Somali Sports Chief Suspended for ‘Defaming Nation’ After Letting Out-of-Shape Family Member Participate in 100m Sprint

The chair of the Somali Athletics Federation has been suspended because she nominated an "untrained" family member to compete in a prestigious international running competition in China, a video of which immediately went viral, embarrassing the country.

The "sprinter," Nasra Ali Abukar, quickly slipped out of the camera's view as her fellow competitors pulled ahead at the biennial FISU World University Games this week.

Casually skipping across the finish line, she took 21.81 seconds to complete the race, breaking a record for the slowest finish in the 100-meter dash by any woman representing the country.

By then, her fellow competitors had already begun their post-run stretches.

Abukar was apparently chosen not on her running merits but because she is related to Khadijo Aden Dahir, the chair of the Somali Athletics Federation.

In a letter to the Somali National Olympic Committee, the country's Ministry of Youth and Sports accused Dahir of "acts of abuse of power, nepotism, and defaming the name of the nation in international arena" and called for her suspension.

The letter did not disclose how Dahir is related to Abukar but said it was unfair to nominate a sprinter who "has been identified as not [a] sports person nor a runner."

Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Barre Mohamud apologized for the incident and said his ministry had no idea the 20-year-old had been selected to compete. The Association of Somalia Universities said it had not sent anyone to the event.

The Wednesday letter clarified that there is no "registered Somali University Sports Association," suggesting that Dahir may have invented the organization in order to qualify Abukar for the competition.