Somali athletics boss suspended after untrained runner allowed to compete in 100m sprint

Somalia’s sports minister has apologised after a woman bearing their national colours finished an elite 100m race with a time outside 20 seconds.

Nasra Abukar Ali clocked 21.81 seconds for the sprint, a time professional athletes can better for 200m, at the World University Games in a round one heat on Monday.

The 20-year-old was more than 10 seconds down on the heat winner Gabriela Silva and did not progress to the second round of the competition in Chengdu in China.

Somali academic Elham Garaad tweeted as a result: “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.”

Despite complaints from fans online, Ali’s selection was within the rules, with organisers stating that countries can enter two athletes who have achieved a qualification time (in this case, of 12 seconds) or one athlete who has not.

But an outcry came when Ali was found to be the niece of Khadija Aden Dahir, the senior vice-president of the Somali Athletics Federation.

Somalia’s sports minister Mohamed Barre pledged to hold those responsible for what he termed as the “misrepresentation and embarrassment” of the country.

And he has reportedly been true to his word, as it was announced on Friday that Ms Dahir has been suspended and that legal action could be pursued. The ministry added that the investigation also revealed that there was no registered Somali University Sports Association.

A statement from Mr Barre’s office said that: “Abubakar Ali has been identified as not a sports person and not a runner.

“[Dahir] has engaged in acts of abuse of power, nepotism, and defaming the name of the nation.”

The statement added: “The Ministry of Youth and Sports firmly declares its intention to pursue legal action against both the chairman of the Athletics Federation of Somalia and individuals responsible for the falsification of the Somali University Sports Association.”

Somalia’s athletics federation could not be reached by the Standard for comment.