By Catherine Bremer
Friday, August 08, 2008

She would have loved her father to see her too, but he was killed in 2006 by a rocket attack that hit their two-room home in the relentless fighting that has torn Somalia apart for some two decades. An uncle and aunt are also dead.

Being in the Olympics, with its billion-dollar stadiums and high-tech synthetic running tracks, is like stepping into another world for athletes from war-ravaged nations like Somalia.

"Sport pushes me forward," said Omar, 17, whose baggy blue tracksuit looks three sizes too big for her spindly frame as she fidgets in a chair in the luxurious Beijing athletes' village.

"Some people ask how I can be doing sport when so many people are being killed or dying from famine and drought, but being in the Olympics is doing something for my country because everyone will support me regardless of their tribal affiliation."

Somalia has managed to send athletes to the last half dozen Olympic Games despite a bloody cycle of conflicts since the 1991 fall of a military dictator and rampant poverty.

The latest upsurge of violence has killed 8,000 civilians and forced a million from their homes since the start of last year as Islamic insurgents battle the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies. A severe drought has blown the situation into a growing humanitarian crisis.

For Omar, it means that while her Olympic rivals are fed on carefully monitored protein-rich diets and chauffeured to world-class training tracks, she lives on porridge, rice and scraps of goat or camel meat and trains by running around the lumpy and weed-ridden earth floor of a dilapidated 1940s stadium.

PROPER ATHLETE

"I eat what I can get hold of. You can't pick or choose," she said, speaking through an interpreter, her solemn eyes shadowed by the peak of her oversized baseball cap.

"You can't complain or blame anyone else for our problems, but it's different to being in a stable country. Sometimes I would like to be somewhere else so I could have proper training."

Omar gets up before dawn to pack in three hours of running before helping prepare her younger brothers and sisters for school then going with her widowed mother to tend a fruit stall near their home in the lawless capital, Mogadishu.

But she fears for her life each time she goes to and from the crumbling Italian-built stadium, where she and the one other athlete representing Somalia in Beijing come to train.

The United Nations reckons 3.5 million Somalis may need emergency aid by the end of the year, but many aid agencies are discussing pulling out of parts of the Horn of Africa country after a spate of murders of humanitarian workers.

"I don't understand politics," Omar said. "I just want peace for my country so that I can train and win medals, and achieve my dream of becoming a proper athlete.

Source: Reuters, Aug 08, 2008

Runta Sheeg @ 8/9/2008 5:03 AM EST  SOOMAALIDA MA AY AAMINSANA DIIN ISLAAM, EE WAXAY AAMINSAN YIHIIN OO AY QAATEEN DIIN CARBEED. HADDABA SOOMAALIDA HA LOO SHEEGO FARAQA U DHEXEEYA DIIN ISLAAM IYO DIIN CARBEED WAXAY KALA YIHIIN TUSAALE : DIIN ISLAAM WAXAY LEEDAHAY SIDAN SOO SOCOTA 1. QOF QABIIL HA U DILIN 2. QOF MUSLIM AH HA DHIHIN WAA GAAL 3. DADKA XOOLAHOODA HA DHICIN 4. MARTIDA HABEENKII HA GOWRICIN 5. CARUURTA IYO WAAYEELKA U NAXARIISO 6. GEEDAHA IYO DHIRTA HA LA DHOWRO 7. XOOLAHA YAAN LA GUMAADIN KUWOODA DHEDIG EE LABKA HA LA SUUQ GEEYO 8. SHISHEEYAHA IYO CADOWGA UMMADDA GACANSAAR HA LA SAMEYSAN 9. XANTA IYO XAASIDKA HA SAMAYN 10. DIINTA KOOXEYI IYO XISBIYAAL HA KU FURIN DIINTA CARABTA AAMINSAN TAHAY WAXAA ASTAAN U AH TIIRARKA SOO SOCDA, WAXAYNA KALA YIHIIN 1. QOF REER HEBEL U DIL 2. QOF MUSLIM AH WAXAAD TIRAAHDAA WAA GAAL 3. DADKA XOOLAHOODA DHACA 4. MARTIDA MAALINKII SOO DHAWEEYA, HABEENKIINA GOWRACA 5. CARUURTA IYO WAAYEELKA DHIBA 6. GEEDAHA IYO DHIRTA XAALUFIYA - 7. XOOLAHA DHEDIG XINIINYO KU TOLA OO SUUQ GEEYA 8. SHISHEEYE IYO CADOW LA SHAQEE 9. XAN IYO XAASIDNIMO ASTAAN KA DHIGO 10. DIINTA KOOXEYSI IYO XISBIYAAL KU FUR SI UMMADDA LOO KALA QAYBIYO . intaas marka aad sameysid, hadhowna masaajidka salaad u imow oo iska dhig malaa'ig soo daahirtay.

luckymes @ 8/9/2008 3:56 AM EST  I noticed three things about Samia: How unsafe she feels in the city where she was probably born. How unfortunate the young girl was orphaned by some waring factions, struggling for power which she has nothing to do. And last but not least, how it is impossible for her to choose what she eats for the day. I almost cried, Allah may help her, amen. To Reuters: You do'nt have any journalistic ethics for dissing this young unfortunate teenager. You could have at least sympathised for her and lend her a hand for encouragement to succeed. To Samia: We are proud of you and everyone who hails from motherland Somalia is behind you. Keep up the good work and keep dreaming that one day our beloved country will rise from the ashes. Long live Samia!!

muhsin @ 8/8/2008 3:55 PM EST  Samia May ALLAH help you in your endeavor.Reuters is making fun of our poor sisters dress.What a shame on their part.Brother Legend1, you said it and it cant be better than that to HOL.We are humanbeing too,why post what hurts our value and life when the media abscond from telling the truth.

Legend1 @ 8/8/2008 11:57 AM EST  Although I'm happy for Samia and want to congratulate her I can't help expressing myself and my views towards Reuters who are disgraced media company as the rest of the western media corporations are, they paint Somalia as it is a desease country and don't mention the people behind the shelling that killed Samia's dad and other family members, everytime they talk about the situation in Somalia they completely omit the truth, which is the carnage in Somalia are the products of usa and ethiopia and their puppet warlord tfg regime, I'm sure you already noticed reuters never put any blame on the ethiopians and I would hope that the administrators in this website would stop giving reuters the platform to spread their venom of lies.

fiqicigaal @ 8/8/2008 10:36 AM EST  I wish you all the luck in the world young lady!