TERESA KRUG: (APPLAUSE) It’s nighttime in Beijing, August 8th, 2008 inside the brand new national stadium, better known as The Bird’s Nest, the lights are glowing, the seats are packed, and the air is electric. Suddenly, the lights go out. An orb of fire circles overhead. And with that, the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics begins.

 

TERESA KRUG: A rumble fills the stadium as 2008 drummers kick off the show in an absolutely dazzling display of light and sound. For the next hour, all kinds of performers appear. You’ve got opera, puppetry. There’s music and fireworks and dance. It’s easily one of the most lavish opening ceremonies in Olympic history.

 

TERESA KRUG: In fact, these Summer Games would go on to become one of the most expensive Olympics ever produced. For the 91,000 people inside that stadium, it’ll be a night to remember. And that will definitely be true for the athletes who take to the track next.

 

(Foreign Language Not Transcribed)

 

ANNOUNCER: United States of America. (CHEERING) (UNINTEL).

 

TERESA KRUG: In the Parade of Nations, the U.S. marches nearly 600 people into the arena, all dressed head to toe in Ralph Lauren suits. Think preppy. Navy blue blazer, tie, ivory cuffed pants, a white busboy hat. It’s a star-studded lineup. Lebanon James, Kobe Bryant, Venus and Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, and Allyson Felix. There are so many people from the U.S., that it takes a full minute to watch them all go by. Toward the end of the parade, we see the delegation from Somalia.

 

ANNOUNCER: Somali.

 

ANNOUNCER: Somalia.

 

ANNOUNCER: Somali.

 

TERESA KRUG: It’s a tiny group, with only a handful of officials and two athletes. Compared to the U.S., they go by in a flash. Basically, if you blink, you’d miss them. In front, you’ve got Duran Farah. He’ll eventually become the president of the Somali Olympic Committee.

 

TERESA KRUG: He’s waving the giant flag. It’s light blue with a white star. You see him smile and throw a kiss to the crowd. He looks really happy. Behind him are the two athletes. They’re both teenagers. One of them is a 17-year-old runner named Samia Yusuf Omar.

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia’s wearing a bright blue dress, beads, and a headband adorned with shells. She’s holding up a smaller Somali flag above her head. And she’s also waving to the crowd. When I look at this video of her waving, I can see that he’s happy, obviously.

 

TERESA KRUG: But there’s something else about her. She looks a little reserved too. It makes sense. This is her first time in front of the whole world, really. And she’s looking out at the biggest crowd she’s ever seen. If things go her way, this won’t be her last Olympics.

 

TERESA KRUG: At this moment, Samia is living the Olympic dream, a chance for the best athletes from each nation to compete, with the promise of an even playing field. Here, she has the opportunity to represent Somalia, her home country, on the world stage, a place she is incredibly proud to be from. She’ll carry this pride and optimism with her in just a few days’ time when she competes for a medal, and in the coming years when she’s running for her life.

 

MALE VOICE: She really wanted to run.

 

FEMALE VOICE: She sound like a leader. She moved like a leader. She talked like a leader.

 

MALE VOICE: No one cannot do what Samia had done. She is the only hope we had.

 

MALE VOICE: You know, she was so determined to win.

 

FEMALE VOICE: I remember she never feared nobody. (LAUGH)

 

CHARLES ROBINSON: To me, when I left, I’m like, “That’s the athlete I will remember these games for.”

 

TERESA KRUG: I’m Teresa Krug. And from 30 for 30 Podcasts, this is The Fastest Girl in Somalia, episode one, Nine Seconds. Samia Yusuf Omar arrived in Beijing with the Somali Olympic Delegation a couple days before the Opening Ceremony. She got on a bus heading for the Olympic Village.

 

TERESA KRUG: One thing to know about Samia right off the bat is that all she wanted to think about was running. Anything else was a distraction. So when she got a phone call from a radio reporter back home, she wasn’t really in the mood for chit chat.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): BBC Somali called me and I used to really hate interviews.

 

TERESA KRUG: She told me about this later, but in Somali. So I’ve pulled in a voice actor.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): Since everyone on the bus with me was– staring, I answered the phone and said, “I can’t hear anything. Hello? Hello? Hello? I can’t hear a single thing.” Truth is I can hear him perfectly fine.

 

TERESA KRUG: Sure, she was jet-lagged, her body clock still five hours behind in Mogadishu. But mostly, she just didn’t feel like talking to any journalist. In the Summer Olympics, track and field events don’t start until the second week. So Samia had a lot of time to kill. At the Olympic Village, she did her best to settle in. It was a giant maze of apartments, designed for 16,000 athletes and officials, buzzing around in dozens of unfamiliar languages.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): The whole place amaze me, everything that was there.

 

TERESA KRUG: It was a lot to take in. But among the other athletes, and the locals, and the tourists in town for the games, Samia took everything in stride. She was a star. People in Beijing wanted to meet her, get her autograph, talk with her.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): I swear, I was so happy. I didn’t think much of myself, but to them, I was someone important. I thought to myself, “If people love me this much now while I’m nobody, how will it be later on when I become somebody?”

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia spent a lot of her childhood running races against neighborhood kids and generally getting into mischief.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): We used to gather in the neighborhood. We will pool our money together to use as a prize for racing. We will set a course around the house, go from here to here, and whoever finish the first took the money. We will come out while our parents were asleep. I will just open my outside door and sneak out.

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia took the races seriously, even when they were just for play. When Samia raced, she was in the zone.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): When we race, everyone had their person, you know? There was a lot of cheering. I used to beat everyone my age.

 

TERESA KRUG: As she grew older, Samia got more serious about running. And by the time she joined the National Team as a teenager, she was the fastest female running on record in Somalia. Samia would actively recruit girls to join her on the team, but she always trained with the boys, the only ones who could keep up with her. Sports journalist Mohamed Abdi Mudey (PH) remembers her standing out.

 

MOHAMED ABDI MUDEY: It’s true she was beating– running with the boys. She was selected because of I think a high speed and a talent.

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia’s favorite race, the one she was best at, was the 1,500-meter. It’s just shy of a mile, so it’s all about endurance and mental strength, knowing when to hold back and when to pull ahead. At the time that Samia was coming up, East African runners, especially from the neighboring countries of Ethiopia and Kenya, dominated. Samia wasn’t just aware of these athletes. She saw them up close at regional competitions. Kenya and Ethiopia promoted and supported runners. But in Somalia, it was a different story.

 

REPORTER: A difficult and bloody civil war in Somalia led to the overthrow of the dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia was born in the middle of a civil war. And for her whole childhood and early adulthood, Somalia continued to see conflict.

 

REPORTER: Children as young as eight take part in the fierce and bitter fighting.

 

TERESA KRUG: A rotating cast of warlords, corrupt government officials, conservative religious leaders, and foreign occupiers made training difficult.

 

REPORTER: Mogadishu, a once beautiful city, split by a frontline dividing disputed clan territories.

 

TERESA KRUG: Jogging was not only not welcomed, it was dangerous. And the same was true for any kind of sport. Here’s sports journalist Mohamed Abdi Mudey again.

 

MOHAMED ABDI MUDEY: At that time, conservative leaders use many ways to stop people from playin’ or watchin’ the sport. People who broke these rules faced harassment, intimidation, or violence.

 

TERESA KRUG: A general attitude at the time was that girls should stay at home and boys should pick up a gun. But Samia continued to push back. She traveled by bus to practices in heavy cloaks, hiding her track attire, her pants, her jerseys. She got stuck at checkpoints and would literally argue about why athletes should be allowed to pass.

 

REPORTER: It’s some of the worst fighting Somalia’s seen in years, with many hundreds dead and injured.

 

TERESA KRUG: She adapted her running schedules to avoid suicide bombs, rerouting and avoiding neighborhoods whenever violence broke out. She’d even delay trips back home after practice, waiting for that violence to calm down.

 

REPORTER: Ethiopian troops help to topple Islamist forces. Now though, the rebels are regrouping, and this city is witnesses carnage.

 

TERESA KRUG: With few resources, Samia said she often coached herself, working with her teammates to come up with training strategies. In the eyes of the Somali Olympic Committee, Samia stood out. And when it came time to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, Samia was the obvious choice.

 

TERESA KRUG: The Olympics were a whole new level for Samia. She wouldn’t have the coaching, the gear, or even the shoes her competitors had. But she still held onto the idea that it was possible to come from behind and win because she’d seen someone else do it before, someone who became a Somali legend.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Welcome back to Rome. The official results of the 1,500-meter run–

 

TERESA KRUG: In the summer of 1987, Abdi Bile arrived in Rome for the World Athletics Championships. It’s a huge track and field event that happens every two years, bringing together the world’s top runners. Abdi was 24 years old, and he was still relatively unknown. But he had something to prove.

 

ABDI BILE: For me, this is the only chance. There is no second chance. There is no third chance. I have to show here that I’m the man.

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi Bile grew up among nomads in Somalia, herding camels with his family. When Abdi was a teenager in the early ’80s, Somalia embraced sports, at least some of them. People in Mogadishu would fill stands for basketball games and soccer matches. And many athletes achieved celebrity level fame. Growing up, Abdi played a lot of soccer. He didn’t know that running competitively was a thing until the day he stumbled into it by chance.

 

ABDI BILE: So one day, I just saw– people running a race. And, you know, my s– friends and I, we just wonder, “What– what are they doing? You know, what’s going on?”

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi approached the guy who seemed to be in charge who told him they were selecting a team to compete in a regional tournament.

 

ABDI BILE: Say, “Oh, so is it something we can participate? Can we run?” Say, “Sure, you can run.” So without warm-up, we just jump into it and we run and I won. (LAUGH)

 

TERESA KRUG: When Abdi got home that day, one of his cousins was there waiting for him.

 

ABDI BILE: And he asked me, “Where have you been all day?” I just told him, “Listen– I don’t wanna talk about it.” He’s– (LAUGH) “I just did something really, really stupid.” Said, “I saw people running. I run with them.” And– and he said, “Wow. How can you say something bad about running? This month, we were watching the Olympics in Moscow. And it was so amazing.” That was the first time I heard Olympics. I say, “What is Olympics?” Say, “Olympics is where the whole world come together and gather and, you know, compete. Every sport, every country comes to compete.”

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi learned that every country can send a delegation of athletes to the Olympics, no matter how small the country is or what kinds of resources they have.

 

ABDI BILE: But then I had a question. I ask you know, “So when is the next Olympics?” And he said, “Oh, it’s every four years. So the next one is gonna be ’84. And it’s gonna be in Los Angeles, in U.S.A.” I (UNINTEL PHRASE) where I say, “Wow. That’d be exciting just to go to the Olympics and go to Los Angeles. And wow.”

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi caught the running bug. He made Somalia’s National Running Team, which got him a small monthly salary. And he started training for this new dream he had, to make it onto the Olympic track. Running eventually got him a ticket to the U.S.

 

TERESA KRUG: He got a scholarship at George Mason University, just outside of Washington, D.C. to run on their track and field team. He’d done it. But it wasn’t going to be easy. He told me one story in particular about coming to America that has really stuck with me.

 

ABDI BILE: So about the time I w– was supposed to leave, I thought like, “Yeah, I’m going to America, but I gotta look good, you know? I have to represent.” So I wanted to buy– running shoes. So I look around. I mean, I just check shop, some places. And there was one type of shoes.

 

ABDI BILE: They told me this is the best they had for running. I bought those shoes for 600 shillings. It’s my whole salary. I come to U.S. and the coach the first day just when I arrive, right away he cannot wait, he just wanna test me. “I gave this guy scholarship. I have to see if he can run.”

 

TERESA KRUG: Jet-lagged, but feeling the pressure to perform well, Abdi put on his tracksuit, laced up his brand new shoes that he’d bought back in Somalia, and went to meet his coach.

 

ABDI BILE: So went to the stadium. And then he ask me, “Hey– what are you waiting for? Get y– get your– (LAUGH) running shoes. Get your running shoes and get going. Let’s– let’s warm up.” And I say, “What running (LAUGH) shoes?”

 

TERESA KRUG: You’re already wearing them.

 

ABDI BILE: “Th– this is my (LAUGH) running shoes.”

 

TERESA KRUG: Oh–

 

ABDI BILE: Say– (LAUGH)

 

TERESA KRUG: –my God–

 

ABDI BILE: –say, “Jesus Christ. You run with these shoes?” “Yeah. I pay 600 shillings, my whole salary.” (LAUGH)

 

TERESA KRUG: Your whole salary.

 

ABDI BILE: He say, “Give it to me. Give it to me.” He just grab my shoes, and put it in the trash.

 

TERESA KRUG: No.

 

ABDI BILE: Yeah.

 

TERESA KRUG: No.

 

ABDI BILE: Not even keep it as a souvenir. (GASP) He just put it in the trash. He say, “Yeah. This is what you been running with?”

 

TERESA KRUG: Oh my gosh. You’re tearing up–

 

ABDI BILE: Oh, man–

 

TERESA KRUG: –all these years later.

 

TERESA KRUG: That was the beginning of a long road for Abdi. But with a coach and a consistent place to train, his star continued to rise. He began competing internationally, including in the 1984 Olympics. And then, in 1987 at the World Athletics Championships in Rome.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Here’re the lane assignments. Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya is in lane one. Steve Scott of the United States is in lane two–

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi was there to run the 1,500-meter race. Even at the starting line, he stood out from the pack.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Abdi Bile, looking very good. Here we go. This is the Final.

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi remembers lining up with the other runners.

 

ABDI BILE: Just waiting the countdown, the gun, and the seconds. (SNAP) Boom. (SHOT)

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi hugged the back of the pack, pacing himself.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: They’re just jogging along. It’s going to be a typical European race, which in a way is too bad because this is as good a field as you could assemble in the world today.

 

TERESA KRUG: I’ve gotta say, I love watching Abdi Bile run. He looks so relaxed, like he’s just out for a jog.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: I think Di Bile (PH), who is in last place, seemed to me to have the best kick. If–

 

TERESA KRUG: There on the track, with just one lap down, you can see him smiling.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: And here comes Abdi Bile. Abdi Bile of Somalia moving outside, challenging for second. And he’s going to go after Cram.

 

TERESA KRUG: Even during the second and third laps, Abdi let other runners lead. But the announcers kept their attention on him, knowing that he could still win. In the home stretch is when Abdi made his move.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: (UNINTEL PHRASE) but to Bile, who looked the best in the Semi-Finals. He’s gonna run away with this.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Abdi Bile of Somalia. José Luis González of Spain is not going to be able to catch him. Bile has the gold. González has the silver, and Jim Spivey of the United States–

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi Bile shattered a record in this race, running the final 800 meters in just a minute, 46.

 

TERESA KRUG: And you still hold the record for the last 800, is that right?

 

ABDI BILE: Yeah, I still do. Still. Still nobody broke.

 

TERESA KRUG: This World Championships win in Rome changed everything. Abdi returned to a hero’s welcome in Mogadishu, with spectators lined layers thick along the parade route. He waved to the crowd from a car in his suit and gold medal. Hundreds of cheering kids ran alongside him.

 

ABDI BILE: Just to see people– really so enthusiastic, so happy, so excited, s– I mean, there is nothing more important, just to see your people happy. Just your people happy means everything.

 

TERESA KRUG: Abdi Bile’s name became that of folklore. A stadium was named after him, and people even began referring to land cruiser pickups, known for their toughness and speed, as Abdi Biles. This was in 1987. In a few short years, civil war would take over the country and make the streets and stadiums in Mogadishu dangerous places to run. But young runners like Samia would be inspired by Abdi Bile’s victory lap. He showed them that winning was possible, no matter where they started from. Samia wanted to do what Abdi Bile did, break away and pull ahead of the pack.

 

TERESA KRUG: We’re back in Beijing in 2008, where the countdown to Samia’s race has begun. Abdi remembers seeing Samia in the Olympic Village. This time, Abdi was at the Olympics as a coach, a head coach for the Saudi Men’s Distance Runners. There wasn’t a lot of time to talk to Samia one-on-one, but he said her determination was clear.

 

ABDI BILE: This girl, she loves to run. She’s determined. She’s disciplined. She’s courageous. She is willing everything it takes to– to get there. Just give her a chance, and see how far she could go. Set her free. That’s her.

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia preferred to run middle distance, like Abdi. But throughout 2008, Somali sports leadership registered her in different distances. For example, the 100-meter dash at the Junior African Championships earlier that year. And now, here in Beijing, the 200-meter dash.

 

TERESA KRUG: The 200-meter dash is a full-on sprint. It’s only half a lap around the track. And it takes an entirely different set of skills than a middle distance race, from the way you pump your arms, to how you drive your knees. Because of how quick this race is, Samia would only have a brief moment to prove herself.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): During the first few days, I was just fine. But as it get closer, I start getting more scared.

 

TERESA KRUG: In her small circle, Samia had support. She didn’t have a coach there, but she had the Somali delegation. Plus, she’d befriended runners from the Sudanese Track Team. They gifted her a new pair of shoes for the race, better than the ones she had. On all sides, people were giving her tips about the race and also reminding her of all the tiny rules.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): Some people were just telling me, “Don’t miss your lane.” Some people thought I didn’t understand the race. But I did understand it. It wasn’t my first time, and I understand how to run.

 

TERESA KRUG: Everyone was encouraging Samia to run her best race. But when it came time to toe the starting line, it would be just her. The day before her race, Samia fasted. Then she began to pray.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): Some people didn’t believe I could win the race. But everything is written by God.

 

TERESA KRUG: Finally, Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 arrived. Samia walked onto the track. After years spent dreaming and training, Samia finally had a chance at an Olympic medal. The crowd was ready too.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Mostly full seats here at The Bird’s Nest, where you’ve seen the best morning session attendance of any Olympics I’ve done. That includes six Summer Games now. (UNINTEL PHRASE)–

 

CHARLES ROBINSON: I got there before, you know, (UNINTEL) had started, and– and just went and kinda camped out, and tried to watch everything.

 

TERESA KRUG: Yahoo Sports reporter Charles Robinson remembers that day well. He would later go on to write the pivotal account of Samia’s race.

 

CHARLES ROBINSON: That’s the athlete I will remember these games for.

 

TERESA KRUG: But he didn’t know that yet. Nobody did. As Samia approached the blocks in lane two, the difference in training between sprinting and middle distance, and between her and the other runners became immediately clear.

 

CHARLES ROBINSON: I remembered watching and– and seeing her at the starting line. And it was so obvious. Like, “Wait a minute. Like, who is that?” I remember her shirt seemed too big. It was too long. It was, like, untucked. It looked like someone who had decided to go out for a jog that day sudden wandered into this starting (LAUGH) block. And that’s really what it looked like to me. She was just so thin. I can’t ever forget that.

 

TERESA KRUG: Down the row were athletes from South Africa, Mali, Russia, the Bahamas, Italy, Canada, all of them in fitted Lycra outfits with their country’s colors. Down in lane six was the woman favored to win, stretching her legs.

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY: There’s Veronica Campbell Brown. She’s the defending champion. She’s been in The Bird Nest before. She carried the flag for Jamaica in the Opening Ceremony here.

 

TERESA KRUG: The 200-meter dash starts on the curb of the track. The starting blocks are staggered. It’s a physics thing, an equation so that every runner runs the exact same distance. For the fastest sprinters in the world, the 200-meter dash will start and end in less than 25 seconds.

 

TERESA KRUG: That’s less time than it takes some people to lace up their shoes. Every second matters. Here in the packed stadium, the crowd goes silent. Samia shakes out her legs to loosen her muscles. Then she crouches. Her life is about to change. (SHOT) (CHEERING) 10.7 seconds in, Veronica and six other runners are almost halfway through the race.

 

TERESA KRUG: But Samia is falling further and further behind. A look of fear has crossed her face. You can see that she’s giving it her all, but it isn’t enough. Twenty seconds in, the race is almost over. Seven athletes all cross within milliseconds of each other. 23.04, .06, .21, .33, .40, .44, .67. Then for the next nine seconds, Samia is alone on the track. But the applause doesn’t die down. (CHEERING) In fact, it gets louder.

 

CHARLES ROBINSON: I’m sitting there, and all of a sudden you just hear everybody start, you know, cheering and clapping. And I’m like, s– they– they were just sort of pushing her a little bit. And it was so– it got pretty loud. I remember I literally got goosebumps.

 

TERESA KRUG: But for Samia, those nine seconds drag on. She crosses the line dead-last, to a standing ovation. But she’s angry and embarrassed. Journalists, including Charles Robinson, would chase her down afterward, spending days inquiring for an interview before she agreed. But she refused most media requests. She didn’t want people to pity her or to be known for coming in last. She wanted to be known for being great, like any other athlete.

 

SAMIA YUSUF OMAR (TRANSLATED): When the race ended, the only thing I thought about was that this should never happen again and that I must train harder. I wanted to make sure that in the next Olympic I could count on being number one.

 

TERESA KRUG: Samia will stop at nothing to get to the next summer Olympics, London 2012, and win. But to do that, she’ll need to go on a dangerous journey. In this season of 30 for 30, I’ll follow Samia Yusuf Omar as she travels across land and sea, running across borders, running from authorities, and running for her life.

 

TERESA KRUG: This story will take us to Mogadishu, to Minneapolis, and to the Mediterranean Sea as I try to figure out, for Samia and athletes like her, what’s really at stake in pursuing the Olympic dream. That’s coming up on The Fastest Girl in Somalia.