Somali Olympians

[Camellete]

Post anything relating to Somali Olympians in here.

Pics/Information on all Somalis participating in the games are welcome regardless of their nationality.

[Constantine MMX]

Team Somalia, the two symbolic athletes:

Originally Posted by Xusein

[Constantine MMX]

Mohamed Ahmed - Team Canada

Mohammed Ahmed is a Canadian distance runner from Saint Catherine’s, Ontario. He attends the NCAA Division 1 University of Wisconsin. He set a school record by running the 10,000m distance in 27:34.64 at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California this spring. The time is better than the Olympic A standard of 27:45 and qualified him to represent Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

Andrew Maloney: When you went to Wisconsin where were you hoping to be by now and how has your training there evolved you as a runner?

Mo Ahmed: Going into Wisconsin my goal was to be an Olympian by 2012. On the first issue of Canadian Running back in 2007-08 I said I wanted to make my Olympic debut at the London games and here I am today.

Many people thought that was not realistic and even Athletics Canada was pegging me as a 2016 hopeful, but I told myself a long time ago that I have to make the 2012 team or I need to reconsider my career path. I feel as though my training has not evolved a whole lot. I do similar workouts I did in high school because my high school coach and University coach have similar coaching philosophies which made my transition to collage very easy. The only difference is increase in mileage and more quality workouts. I feel that in high school I was racing my workouts and now I do my workouts controlled and smooth.

AM: What were your goals entering this year and what did you and your coaches do to continue your progress?

MA: My goal this year was to make the Olympic team. Everything was geared towards that end goal; I red-shirted the indoor season to give myself the time needed to do quality work that would enable me to have a good chance at hitting the A standard. I felt heading into the Payton Jordon meet I would either just sneak under the A standard or just miss it, so it was very surprising that I beat it by that much. The training I did last summer, the fall and winter allowed me to get the A standard.

AM: Having never been at an Olympic Games are you excited, nervous or unsure what to expect?

MA: I am very excited to be competing at the pinnacle of all sports. I love competing at the biggest stages and I am going to enjoy it very much.

AM: What are you trying to accomplish in London?

MA: This being my first time in the Olympics, I am going allow myself to enjoy it, and soak in the atmosphere, so I know what to expect at the 2016 games and beyond, but I would love to get a personal best and finish very well. I don’t know what position a personal best will put me, but I am just going to enjoy it and race to the best of my ability on that day.

AM: What are your plans and goals beyond this year?

MA: Every athlete would love to keep making progress and improving every year and I am not any different. I would love to get down to middle-to-low 27 in the 10k and mid-to-low 13 in the 5k at the end of my University Career. Hopefully those times will get me some NCAA titles. I believe those are realistic goals judging myself on where I am today and depending on any unexpected hurdles I will alter them as necessary.

-- ATHLETICS ILLUSTRATED

[Constantine MMX]

Mo Farah - Team GB

Farah: Britain’s golden Somalian import

Paris – Mo Farah's wife Tania is due to give birth to twins in September, but whether the Somalia-born athlete pursues his own dream of double Olympic gold will depend on how he fares first up in the 10,000 metres.

The 28-year-old – who came to England aged eight after being brought up in Djibouti – comes to the Games having become the first athlete to successfully defend his 5,000 metres European title in Helsinki last month.

Farah, who also became the first British male athlete to win a world distance title when he landed the 5,000m in Daegu last year after taking silver in the 10,000m, has, however, made the 10,000m his priority for the simple reason it is first on the schedule.

“I am going to run the 10,000 for sure because it is the first race,” Farah said after winning the 5,000 at the Diamond League's Prefontaine Classic.

“I will see how I feel after that. It depends how I come off in the 10,000. I would like to be fresh and not have any niggles.”

It is questionable whether Farah would have got this far but for two seminal influences on his life once he was in England – his school PE teacher Alan Watkinson and British great Paula Radcliffe.

Understandably speaking little English on his arrival in England – his family came because his English-born father lived and worked there – Farah had a hard introduction on his first day at school when he made the mistake of using one of the few phrases he knew 'C'mon then' to the toughest guy in his class.

“He twatted me,” he told 'The Independent', using the slang phrase for being punched.

He was to come across Watkinson at his second school and the latter recognised he had an athlete of great potential on his hands, even if Farah professed a desire to go on and become a winger for soccer giants Arsenal.

“I remember seeing him in a cross-country race for the first time,” said Watkinson.

“He didn't win because he didn't know the way. He kept turning round to see that the others had gone off in a different direction. But his running was so effortless.”

Radcliffe, who has known her fair share of Olympic disappointment in successive marathons in Athens and Beijing, also placed her faith in him and made it possible for Farah to get to training.

“She paid for me to take driving lessons,” said Farah.

“I couldn't drive but I had to get out to Windsor to train, which was a difficult journey without a car. I look up to her a lot. She's made me believe that anything is possible.”

Those days of driving to Windsor are long gone as he took the decision to move to Portland, Oregon, and train there in 2011 so he could spend more time with his coach, marathon legend Alberto Salazar and the results were immediate with his two medals in Daegu.

Now with him confirmed as Europe's finest over 5,000m – he didn't bother to defend his 10,000m title – Farah is totally focussed on the Olympics and believes that he will thrive on home support.

“It gives me a good advantage,” he said. “But everybody else will be showing up early to try and get used to everything.

“I am more of a positive person than a negative one,” Farah said. “I like to have a crowd behind me.”

Should Farah win he will end up having British national anthem God Save the Queen ring out, but Somalians will be forgiven for sharing in the glory.

Proud of his roots, Farah and Tania set up the Mo Farah Foundation which aims to build 50 wells and to give a month's supply of food to at least 20,000 people and medical support to 40,000 by the end of the year.

He has already set aside the £250,000 he won in a TV show earlier this year and should gold come his way in London then the Somalians are bound to reap the rewards as well from their 'golden boy'. – Source

[moemoney]

London 2012 Olympics ceremony- Somalia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPJo28szD4A

[Constantine MMX]

Originally Posted by moemoney

London 2012 Olympics ceremony- Somalia

....

[EvolvingPrimates]

Originally Posted by Constantine MMX

....

These two are the real heroes....not the ones running for other countries!

[Xusein]

Maybe so...but then again, the ones who do play for other nations get the access to sports infrastructure that they can not if they played for Somalia. And ultimately, at least for the case of Mo Farah, he does help people back home and is proud of his roots.

[Constantine MMX]

They ran to those countries as kids, they might as well run for them as adults. This is emotional black-mail your trying to impose upon them, as if their traitors, when actually Somali society betrayed them by displacing them in the first place. Mo Farah and the other talented athletes have every right to further their careers and become millionaires under their adopted countries' flags, because the sports-culture in Somalia was uprooted and the once modern sports facilities significantly destroyed.

The two Somalia athletes currently competing are clearly symbols of all the hard-work the late Aden Xaji Yabarow and Said Mohamed Nur put into reviving the sports sector before their untimely demise, and its in their memory that I will cheer on these athletes, but we have a long way to go before we can entice world-class Somali athletes to wave the blue flag.

Patriotism is a strong motivator, but it doesn't pay the bills.

[EvolvingPrimates]

Xussien,

That's certainly true. Infrastructure plays a role & could tempt someone to try playing for another country. But patriotism should tramp that. It's unfortunate that it didn't.

Constantine,

You are making mute points. Saying Somalia betrayed those guys that are running for other countries is quite a silly suggestion. Patriotism is truly measured when your country needs you. Not when you need it. All these Mo Farah, Ayub Daud & the countless other kids following their footsteps ought to be ashamed of themselves when they see those 2 young kids representing Somalia despite the consistent threat to their life. It takes courage something not most people have. Certainly not Mo Farah & Knaan & Ayub Daud & the others.

There's no way I will cheer for some skinny waving a British Flag when I can cheer for Zamzam & Mohamed. You can't buy patriotism. Not even with a million pounds!

[T3ST]

Here's a report on the Olympic hopefuls.

Can someone tell me why Somalia does not have anyone to participate in other sports?

There's shooting, football, handball, basketball etc? Does it cost to enter the Olympics?

[Waranle]

Originally Posted by EvolvingPrimates

Xussien,

That's certainly true. Infrastructure plays a role & could tempt someone to try playing for another country. But patriotism should tramp that. It's unfortunate that it didn't.

Constantine,

You are making mute points. Saying Somalia betrayed those guys that are running for other countries is quite a silly suggestion. Patriotism is truly measured when your country needs you. Not when you need it. All these Mo Farah, Ayub Daud & the countless other kids following their footsteps ought to be ashamed of themselves when they see those 2 young kids representing Somalia despite the consistent threat to their life. It takes courage something not most people have. Certainly not Mo Farah & Knaan & Ayub Daud & the others.

There's no way I will cheer for some skinny waving a British Flag when I can cheer for Zamzam & Mohamed. You can't buy patriotism. Not even with a million pounds!

You seem to talk a lot of smack, these guys owe nothing to Somalia, rather they owe to those who spent on them and gave them the chance. Patriotism is good but it anit gona pay your bills, at the end of the day that's what counts. I doubt they care if you cheer for them or not, at the end of the day their making money whiles your behind your computer talking smack.

[juzme123]

What's with the aggressive tones folks, cool it down a few notches. lol must be the gaajo getting you cranky when your hungry

[juzme123]

We need more people like this girl genuinely striving for their country

[SUNS 25]

Happy for your country.

[ja'far]

Originally Posted by EvolvingPrimates

These two are the real heroes....not the ones running for other countries!

+1

I agree with you on this one.

[The Rt. Hon.]

Originally Posted by EvolvingPrimates

These two are the real heroes....not the ones running for other countries!

Originally Posted by ja'far

+1

I agree with you on this one.

Mo Farah was discovered and encouraged to take up running by a Brit, coached by a Brit, supported by Brits and sponsored by Brits, so why should he then be soo ungrateful.

Mo Farah is contributing to the creation of a positive image for Somali's living in the UK. He has set up the MO Farah Foundation which is helping the people affected by the drought in Somalia by building wells and distributing food, and has raised many 100,000's of pounds (donated by Brits). What have YOU done for our people.

[Lu'lu]

Originally Posted by juzme123

We need more people like this girl genuinely striving for their country

I so badly want her to win

[ModernNomad01]

Originally Posted by The Rt. Hon.

Mo Farah was discovered and encouraged to take up running by a Brit, coached by a Brit, supported by Brits and sponsored by Brits, so why should he then be soo ungrateful.

Mo Farah is contributing to the creation of a positive image for Somali's living in the UK. He has set up the MO Farah Foundation which is helping the people affected by the drought in Somalia by building wells and distributing food, and has raised many 100,000's of pounds (donated by Brits). What have YOU done for our people.

He also moved to Britain while he was young child

[Xusein]

Originally Posted by T3ST

There's shooting, football, handball, basketball etc? Does it cost to enter the Olympics?

I don't know but you need training infrastructure to build a good national team, and that needs to be funded. We all know the Somali TFG does not have much funds to do that, if they are the ones who are funding them at all. And then there's the talent drain. The vast majority of the most successful Somali athletes are abroad and have no plans of playing for the Somali national team anytime soon.

Either way; Olympics are pretty much symbolic participation events for poor nations like Somalia and most others in Africa...maybe they will have one or two medals but the big rich countries will always get the lion's share. That's unfair but what can you do.