| Somalia at the Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
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| At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 2 (1 man, 1 woman) in 1 sport | |||||||||||
| Flag bearer | Mohamed Ahmed Alim (head coach) | |||||||||||
| Medals | Gold 0 |
Silver 0 |
Bronze 0 |
Total 0 |
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| Olympic history (summary) | ||||||||||||
| Summer Games | ||||||||||||
| 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 | ||||||||||||
Despite having no functioning central government, Somalia sent two athletes to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Since the civil war that broke out in the early 1990s, the Somali Olympic Committee has been supported by various factions centered on the capital of Mogadishu. The autonomous northwestern Somaliland region of Somalia maintains its own Olympic committee, but it has not been recognized by the IOC.
Somalia's two athletes were Fartun Abukar Omar, who finished last in her qualifying heat in the women's 100 meter sprint and Abdulla Mohamed Hussein who finished with the slowest time of all runners in the qualifying for the men's 400 meters. Many Somali's also followed the progress of American runner Abdihakem Abdirahman who was born in Somalia but left that country at age 13. He finished twelfth in the 10,000 metre race.
The Somali participation was also marked by controversy when the IOC banned Farah W. Addo, the president of the Somali Olympic Committee from attending the game. Addo had earlier been expelled from FIFA for embezzling millions of dollars meant to go the Somali soccer program. After complaints from FIFA the IOC elected to ban Addo.
Contents |
Wallechinsky, David; Jamie Loucky (2008). The Complete Book of the Olympics : 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1845133306.