She was running, not to outrun anyone, but to outrun a reality that was chasing her: war, poverty, and the restrictions imposed on her body as a woman. While the world applauded the runners at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Samia Yusuf Omar ran alone. She panted after a fragile dream that almost slipped away with every step. Four years later, when there was no longer a track to run on, she decided to cross the sea, and it swallowed her.
Samia was not just an up-and-coming Somali runner, but a symbol of talent that defied conditions unlike anything in modern sports. She trained on rubble-strewn roads in Mogadishu, escaped death threats, and dreamed of reaching London to participate in the 2012 Olympics, but she only reached the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and drowned in April 2012, aboard a boat that set sail from Libya to Italy, according to Italian media reports confirmed by the National Olympic Committee of Somalia to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Upbringing and childhood: between war and dreams
Amid civil war, where there was no room for dreams, Samia Yusuf Omar was born on March 25, 1991, in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The sounds of bombing and destruction tore through the silence of the sky, but amid this devastation, there was a dream glowing in the heart of a little girl to become an athlete, despite all the darkness surrounding her.
“I used to run in the destroyed streets, where there were potholes and dangers, but I believed that every step brought me closer to my dream”. This is how Samia described her days in Mogadishu, where she used to run in streets filled with destruction, but these steps were a path to hope for her.
Samia grew up in a sports-oriented family, as her mother was one of the brightest names in the field of sports. Although Somali society viewed girls playing sports as a challenge to tradition, her dream was stronger than these restrictions.
However, life, which continued to be harsh, took away Samia in 2006 what was most precious to her. She lost her father and uncle in a violent bombing that targeted Bakara Market, the largest market in Mogadishu. It was a moment that changed her life, but she did not stop there. Amidst the grief and loss, she felt that sport was the only way to survive.
The beginning: running amid the rubble
In the streets of Mogadishu, ravaged by destruction, Samia found a place to run in every alley. There were no official tracks, no training teams, and no government support. Her mother was her only source of support, believing in her dream and encouraging her despite her fear of tradition and the prevailing view of women’s sports.
Samia began participating in local school competitions, which were simple and modest, but she saw them as her first steps toward the world. Her natural speed and remarkable determination set her apart from the rest. Samia won several local races in Mogadishu.
According to The Guardian, Samia sometimes trained on dilapidated fields or on dangerous roads exposed to gunfire. She was unable to wear appropriate sportswear and often faced verbal harassment and even direct threats from armed groups who saw her participation in sports as a “challenge to religious and social values”.
But Samia did not back down. She would tell anyone who asked her why she continued to run despite the risks: “Running is the only thing that makes me feel alive”.
The road to the fifth lane
As she repeatedly won local school races, Olympic officials noticed her performance and decided to include her in the program to prepare Somali athletes for the Olympic Games, even though this program lacked all the resources available in other countries. Training was random, the equipment was almost non-existent, and resources were scarce.
Despite all this, Samia saw this opportunity as a ray of hope, a chance to escape her harsh reality, even if only temporarily. Her mother strongly supported her, sometimes accompanying her to training sessions and urging her to ignore criticism and harassment.
Samia did not realize that this modest beginning would lead her, months later, to the world’s largest sporting arena. When she received the official news that she would be participating in the Beijing Olympics, she did not believe it at first. There was no festive announcement, no cameras, just a brief message from one of the committee officials informing her that she should prepare for travel.
She was bombarded with questions she couldn’t answer: What does it mean to run for a country that doesn’t have a track? What will I do among international runners? Is the dream alone enough to get me through the race?
Nevertheless, she packed her small suitcase, said goodbye to her mother at the door, and boarded a plane for the first time in her life, carrying with her only what she needed to run: her slender body and the determination of a girl who refused to bow to what war wanted of her.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics: a global spotlight in the sky of war
On a hot afternoon inside Beijing’s famous Bird’s Nest stadium, the runners lined up for the 200-meter preliminary race. Samia Youssef Omar stood in lane five, her slender body clad in simple athletic clothing, compared to her teammates who wore professional outfits and carried the names of superpowers.
When the starting gun sounded, Samia sprinted with all her might.
Within the first few meters, the gap began to widen significantly, and she quickly fell behind by a large margin. But she didn’t stop. She didn’t look behind her or at the stands filled with eyes watching her in amazement. She continued to run, stumbling slightly, resisting severe physical exhaustion.
A BBC reporter who was present described the scene, saying, “Her effort was evident in every step. There was no real competition between her and the others. There was an internal struggle, a determination to reach the finish line at any cost”.
As she approached the finish line, applause rang out throughout the stands, in a rare scene usually reserved for winners. Samia smiled broadly and finished the race despite her obvious exhaustion.
She later told Reuters: “When I heard the applause, I felt like I had won in my own way”. Samia did not qualify for the next rounds, but she won the respect of the world. According to a report published by The Guardian, many considered her “a symbol of the pure spirit of the Olympic Games”.
Back to hell
After participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Samia Yusuf Omar returned to Mogadishu, but she did not receive a hero’s welcome. The country was engulfed in civil war, and the control of the militant Al-Shabaab movement extended to areas close to her neighborhood, where women were prohibited from practicing sports. Instead of support or acceptance, Samia began to receive direct threats because of her public appearance at international sporting events in sportswear that did not comply with the restrictions imposed by those groups.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, Samia was forced to give up training at the well-known Konis Stadium after being chased by armed men, resorting to training in the alleys of her neighborhood in the morning and in secret.
In 2010, she decided to leave Somalia for good and move to Ethiopia. Addis Ababa was the closest relatively safe destination and an important center for athletics on the continent. There, she tried to integrate into the training system, but the obstacles were not few; she was not allowed to join the Ethiopian national team, and the resources available to her were limited.
In an interview with German journalist Corinna Müller in 2011, later published in her book Die Läuferin (The Runner), Samia spoke about that period, saying: “In Ethiopia, I lived on hope. I didn’t have much, but I ran every day. Running was the only thing that made me feel alive”.
Although she trained without a professional coach and with limited resources, her dream of reaching the 2012 London Olympics never left her. Life in Ethiopia was not easy, but it was, as she described it, less dangerous than “running under threat” in Mogadishu.
The final journey: from the dream of London to the bottom of the Mediterranean
Ethiopia was not the end of the road for Samia, but it was a turning point in a bitter journey. After months of limited training in Addis Ababa, and despite temporarily escaping the threats of Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu, the dream of the Olympics remained in her heart like an unquenchable flame. But Samia, accustomed to fighting against harsh circumstances, realized that reaching the 2012 London Olympics would require more than just determination. It would require a professional training environment and financial and moral support, which were not available.
In a rare interview with German journalist Corina Müller in Ethiopia, Samia said: “I can’t go back to Somalia. I can’t stay here. I have no place to go, but I don’t want to give up”. Her words were a cry against the reality that was suffocating her dream. The dream she had clung to since she was a child was collapsing before her eyes, but she was ready to make more sacrifices.
As time passed, Samia began to feel that the road to London was blocked. She thought about fleeing to Europe. The journey was fraught with danger, surrounded by stories of death and drowning at sea, but her heart was full of hope. The sea was her last possible horizon, and she feared the unknown as much as she feared giving up.
In early 2012, she left Ethiopia for Sudan, then arrived in Libya, where she ended up in a detention center run by smugglers. She spent difficult days trying to stay fit in the simplest ways possible, sometimes training in a small dusty courtyard, if the guards allowed it. Despite the harsh treatment and inhumane conditions, she held on to a glimmer of hope that this suffering would lead to a new opportunity.
In April of that year, Samia boarded a boat crowded with migrants, which sailed from Libya towards the Italian coast. It was not the first time she had heard of migrants drowning, but she hoped that the journey would pass safely. The sea was rough, and the air was thick with fear, but her eyes were fixed on the horizon. Later, the Italian authorities announced that the boat had sunk off the coast of Lampedusa, without giving many details about the victims. As for Samia, she never arrived.
The moment the boat disappeared into the depths of the sea, Samia Youssef Omar disappeared, along with her dream, which was not just a sporting competition, but a battle against a bitter reality, against the constraints that tried to rob her of her dream. She was only 21 when the waves swallowed her as she chased life.
Her drowning was not the end of the story, but the beginning of an unforgettable memory. The sound of the world applauding her at the Beijing Olympics, where she ran alone against the wind, will remain a testament to the fact that heroes are not those who achieve victory, but those who never stop striving. In the end, Samia did not make it to London, but she made it into the hearts of many, leaving behind a question that still echoes among us: How many more dreams will lose their way and drown?
