Nepotism? Somali sports official suspended for 'favoring' untrained athlete

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A Somali sports official has been suspended over nepotism allegations and abuse of power after a video of an untrained Somalian athlete went viral.

According to CNN, Khadijo Aden Dahir, the chairlady of the Somali Athletics Federation was suspended on Wednesday, August 2, by Somali’s Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Barre Mohamud.

The viral video featured sportswomen taking part in a women’s 100-meter race during the International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) Summer World University Games held in China.

Among the participating female athletes was Somali's Nasro Abukar Ali, clad in a blue kit, who seemed unbothered from the beginning.

When the call to race came in, all the ladies charged up leaving Abukar far behind.

She seemingly ran along the tracks sluggishly, or rather moved towards the finish line using her personal definition of speed, and ended the race with a skip popular in children’s playgrounds.

Abukar clocked all of 21.81 seconds, finishing the race more than eight seconds after the second-last runner and more than 10 seconds behind the winner.

The video has since elicited ridicule towards Somali’s government and the Sports Ministry as well as its minister, to issue an apology.

According to a statement released by the country’s Ministry of Sports, Ali is not a professional runner hence the call to suspend Dahir over alleged “abuse of power, favoritism and defamation of the nation.”