Samia Yusuf Omar

Saamiya Yusuf Omar

Omar at the 2008 Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	Somali
Born	(1991-03-25)25 March 1991 Mogadishu, Somalia[1]
Died	April 2012 (aged 21) Mediterranean Sea
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	100 m, 200 m, 1500 m
Achievements and titles
Personal best	200 m – 32.16 (2008)[1]

Samia Yusuf Omar or Samiyo Omar (Somali: Saamiya Yuusuf Cumar; Arabic: سامية يوسف عمر; 25 March 1991 – April 2012) was a sprinter from Somalia. She was one of two Somali athletes who competed for their nation at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Omar had grown up in Mogadishu, and trained there during the Somali Civil War despite receiving harassment from local militia groups. Her story at the Olympics was covered by the media, and her performance was well received by the crowd.

Following the Games, she hid away from athletics following threats by militant group Al-Shabaab. She ended up in a Hizbul-Islam displacement camp, and in pursuit of competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics, she crossed the border to Ethiopia looking for a safe place to train. She was trafficked north into Libya, where she was imprisoned. During the 2012 Games, it was revealed that Omar had drowned off the coast of Libya while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.