Somalia Runner Recording Painfully Slow Time in 100m Race Sparks Outrage

A female athlete from Somalia's poor performance in the 100m at the FISU 2023 World University Games, an international multi-sport event for university athletes, in Chengdu, China, has been pilloried online.

Nasra Ali Abukar ran the distance in 21.81 seconds, finishing some 10 seconds behind the leaders and sparking an outcry about her inclusion.

A video of her competing in the competition has gone viral with more than 19.8 million views since it was shared on Twitter. Many questioned why an underprepared athlete with no previous record of competing in races had been chosen by the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Somalia to represent her country.

In the video, Abukar is soon left out of shot as the rest of the field sprint to the finishing line, with the winner clocking 11.4 seconds for the distance.

To place Abukar's speed in context, the qualifying standard for the U.S. women's Olympic 100m team is 11.15 seconds. The slowest time recorded at the 2020 Olympics in the women's 100m was 15.26, more than six seconds faster than Abukar.

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 100m in 21.68 seconds—still faster than Abukar's time—awards just 1 point.

Questions have been raised on social media about the validity of her inclusion. It has been claimed that she is the niece of Somali Athletics President Abdullahi Ahmed Tarabi and that her inclusion in the team is due to nepotism amid claims of financial irregularities.

Elham Garaad, whose post on Twitter went viral with the video, questioned the inclusion of the athlete.

She wrote: "The Ministry of Youth and Sports should step down. It's disheartening to witness such an incompetent government. How could they select an untrained girl to represent Somalia in running? It's truly shocking and reflects poorly on our country internationally."

Newsweek has reached out to Garaad and Somalia's Ministry of Youth and Sport, via Twitter and email respectively, for comment on the situation.

Garaad replied to her initial tweet with further explanation, writing: "That's the niece of the President of the Somali Athletics Federation. What you expecting ? Nepotism; we have good athletes in Somalia but when it comes to 💸 💰 is a different story."

The Somali Athletics Federation have said on Somali TV that there will be an investigation into the selection of Abukar after her participation was condemned across the globe.

Twitter user @thedonmaviolous, who reposted the video, wrote: "I don't believe she's the fastest woman in Somalia cause ain't no way."

It is not the first time Somalia has courted controversy with their selection of female athletes.

Back 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—1:10:14—would not have qualified her for the Maryland high school girls' 2A state finals, at that time.

There was a different reaction in 2016 with her participation being hailed as an "inspiration" for others to follow the same path into athletics.

Update, 8/2/2023 8:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated to place Abukar's time in better context and alter the original headline.