The 100m race at the FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China took place and Somalia was represented by a cringy yet humourous performance that has gone viral.
Nasro Abukar Ali, an untrained runner, competed for her country but was doomed immediately as she fell several feet behind her opponents. While the first-place runner, Brazil’s Gabriela Silva Mourão, ran an impressive 11:58 and Ali skipped across the finish line almost ten seconds later, yikes.
The FISU World University Games takes place every two years in a different country and is like the Olympics for university students. The students get the opportunity to compete in a variety of sporting events from basketball to archery and diving.
Naturally, social media had a lot to say about Ali’s performance in the race. Cue the responses!
ESPN Australia and New Zealand posted this, revealing that Ali ended up setting a record for the slowest recorded 100m finishing time.
While X users are joking and calling Ali an “icon”, the runner’s home country is outraged and trying to figure out how Ali was approved for this event. The Association of Somalia Universities claims that it never sent a student to the competition. This opened the door for rumors that Ali gained the opportunity through nepotism, allegedly being related to the chairwoman of the Somali Athletics Federation, Khadijo Aden Dahir.
Dahir has since been suspended by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Somalia due to the embarrassing performance by the “runner” in a statement posted to X on August 3, writing:
- Nasro Abukar Ali has been identified as not sports person nor runner.
- Ms. Khadijo Aden Dahir, the Chairwoman of the Somali Athletics Federation, has engaged in acts of abuse of power, nepotism, and defaming the name of the national in international arena.
The Association intends to also push for legal action against the Chair of the Athletics Federation of Somalia and anybody else who was involved in allowing Ali to represent the country. Looks like this is far from over, but maybe Somalia will have the chance to send a worthy runner in two years.