Credit: Twitter
The country of Somalia is known for its fast athletes, but they put their name on an unwanted record at the World University Games in Chengdu, China, on August 1. Somali runner Nasra Abukar Ali finished the 100m race in the slowest time ever recorded in the women's 100m heats, clocking a time of 21.81 seconds.
In the video, Ali can be seen lagging behind the other runners from the start and skipping over the finish line as the crowd cheers. She finished more than 10 seconds after the winner of the heat, who ran in 11.4 seconds. World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, awards points based on performance, with a maximum of 1,400 points for women if they finish the 100m in 10.12 or less. Finishing the 100 meters in 21.68 seconds—still faster than Abukar's time—awards just 1 point.
The video of the race has gone viral and has sparked outrage as many people have questioned how Ali was selected to represent Somalia at the international event, given her apparent lack of training and experience. Some have accused the Somali Athletics Federation of nepotism and corruption, claiming that Ali is the niece of Khadija Aden Dahir, the senior vice president of the federation. They have also alleged that the federation misused funds meant for developing athletics in Somalia.
Watch the video here:
Investigation launched into how Nasra Ali was selected
Mohamed Barre, the minister in charge of Somalia's Ministry of Sports, has promised to look into how Abukar was chosen. He responded by calling the incident "a misrepresentation and embarrassment" for Somalia.
Some reports have said that Abukar told Chinese media that she still has “a lot left in the tank” and has plans to race at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. This is not the first time Somalia has had an astronomically slow runner; in 2016, Maryan Nuh Muse represented the country at 400 meters in the Rio Olympics despite having a desperately slow time. Her time in the heat was 1:10:14 which was more than twice that of the next best runner.
