By Cliff Brunt
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
ESPN’s new 30 for 30 podcast The Fastest Girl in Somalia tells the tragic story of Somali runner Samia Yusuf Omar.
At just 17 years old, Omar finished last in her 200-meter heat at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Determined to improve, she traveled throughout northeast Africa and beyond to pursue her dream of winning big at the 2012 London Olympics, often facing great danger as she sought elite training that wasn’t available in her war-torn country.
Teresa Krug, who narrates the podcast, began chronicling Omar’s journey in 2010 as a freelance journalist. Along the way, Krug shared how Omar was cheered in Beijing after finishing well behind the pack — and how Omar was embarrassed, rejected the attention and vowed to return faster and stronger.
Omar left her family in her hometown of Mogadishu, Somalia, for Ethiopia, but once there, she realized she needed to do something even more drastic to secure the coaching she needed. She put all she had into finding greener pastures in Italy, traversing dangerous territory in Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Libya. Her dream ended along the way when she drowned in April 2012 at age 21 after the overcrowded boat she boarded ran out of fuel and sank in the Mediterranean Sea. READ MORE…
