Chinese athlete Nasra Abukar of Somalia achieved the worst 100m time in history, finishing 10 seconds behind his competitors at the World University Games in Chengdu.
Abukar completed the 100m race in 21.81 seconds, falling far behind his competitors and finishing about 10 seconds behind the leader. According to the British newspaper Sportmail , this is the worst 100m performance ever recorded in the history of international competitions.
Abukar on the 100m track on August 2nd.
The video of the race has garnered significant attention on social media, raising questions about why Somalia sent an inexperienced and unprepared runner to a major event. Abukar is believed to be the niece of the vice president of the Somali Athletics Federation, Khadija Adan Dahir, and her selection to compete in the Chengdu race this summer was clearly a matter of nepotism.
Elham Garaad, who posted the viral video on Twitter , wrote: "The Somali Ministry of Youth and Sports should resign. It's disappointing to see such an incompetent agency. How could they choose an untrained girl to represent Somalia at the competition? It's truly shocking and reflects poorly on our country internationally."
In a subsequent Twitter post, Garaad wrote: "That's the niece of the President of the Somali Athletics Federation. What do you expect? Somalia has good athletes, but when it comes to money, it's a different story."
Garaad also posted a screenshot of a Facebook post by Dahir congratulating his niece on being selected to participate in the World University Games.
A post by the Vice President of the Somali Athletics Federation, Khadija Adan Dahir, congratulating Nasra Abukar on qualifying for the 2023 World University Games. Photo: Screenshot
According to Newsweek , the Somali Athletics Federation has launched an investigation into why Abukar was selected to compete in the tournament in China, as the runner was not captured on camera finishing the race because he was running too slowly.
This isn't the first time Somalia has underperformed at an international running competition. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Maryan Nuh Muse ran the 400m in 1 minute 10 seconds 14. Despite this, she was still praised as an inspiration for overcoming the extremely harsh conditions in Somalia to compete at the highest level.
At London 2012, Zamzam Mohamed Farah – who was inspired by British athletics legend Mo Farah – ran the 400m in 1 minute 20 seconds 48, finishing about 30 seconds behind the winner.
At the time, the media revealed Zamzam's shocking training conditions, including a route dubbed the "death road"—where runners sometimes had to dodge bullets fired at them. She also received death threats on social media from people who argued that women shouldn't compete in sports.
Hong Duy
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