Somalian sports minister apologizes after ‘slowest ever’ 100m runner goes viral, investigation next

Somalian sports minister apologizes after ‘slowest ever’ 100m runner goes viral, investigation next

A video of a 20-year-old Somalian sprinter finishing last in a 100-meter race, more than 10 seconds behind her competitors at the World University Games, has gone, resulting in Somalia’s sports minister to publicly apologized Wednesday.

As a results, the chairwoman of the national track and field federation will be suspended after what appears to be an untrained sprinter representing the country.

Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Barre Mohamud said his ministry did not know how 20-year-old Nasra Abukar Ali was selected to compete in the women’s 100 at the student games in Chengdu on Tuesday.

The ministry separately released a statement directing the Somalia Olympic Committee to suspend national athletics federation chairwoman Khadija Aden Dahir amid allegations that Nasra Abukar was a relative of hers and was given the chance to compete at the games because of that.

The video of Abukar’s performance has been viewed more than 50 million times. The performance is being dubbed the “slowest-ever” in a global contest, according to the Daily Mail. The official time of the run was 21.81 seconds.

Newsweek reports the Somali Athletics Federation reportedly told Somali TV that an investigation will be launched.

Somalia’s university union said it had not sent any runners to China as part of an official Somali team.

Nasra Abukar was immediately left behind by the other runners and finished about 10 seconds after the winner. Despite being dead last, she did a little skip in the air as she crossed the finish line.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.