2nd August 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
Celebrating Somali Olympic heroes
The following is a guest blog by Fionna Gibb, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Office for Somalia.
As Ambassador Matt Baugh is on leave, last Friday I had the pleasure of hosting the British Office for Somalia’s reception in Mogadishu to celebrate the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. As the sun set on the Indian Ocean, and the waves pounded on the Somali shore, I was joined at the party by a convivial gathering of the international community based at Mogadishu International Airport.
I commented that the British people, sometimes not known to get overly enthusiastic about big public displays of excitement, and possessing a natural talent for self deprecation, have defied the sceptics nonetheless by delivering a spectacular Olympics on time and within budget. Occasional British grumbling has been replaced with a growing and palpable sense of excitement – evidenced by the large crowds that turned out to welcome the Olympic flame the length and breadth of the country.
We are immensely proud to be hosting the world’s top sporting event, and welcoming 10,500 athletes from 204 countries. It is the culmination of seven years of hard work, commitment and vision to make these Olympic and Paralympic Games the best ever.
We live in a world where much of the news seems to be bad news and where conflicts continue to horrify us. Yet sport somehow rises above this and bridges differences between countries and communities. Sport offers hope: against the odds Somalia has managed to send athletes to almost every Olympic games since 1972.
I was privileged to meet a few weeks ago in Mogadishu Somalia’s two remarkable young athletes who are now representing their country in London. As I watched the opening ceremony live last Friday in Mogadishu, I waited to see them take their turn in the athletes procession. And then there they were, proudly carrying the national flag. We played our small part in getting them there by taking our immigration equipment to them in Mogadishu.
But the personal challenges they have both overcome to get this far have been far more immense. It is a testament to their determination, their vision and their optimism. They deserve a medal for that alone.
Mohamed Hassan and Zamzam Mohamed are true sporting heroes. Share your thoughts on Somalia’s Olympic and other national heroes by posting a comment below.
I’m very proud of Mohamed and Zamzam for participating in the Olympics. But I’m even more proud of Somali-born Mo Farah for his outstanding success at this years games by snatching two gold medals!
Mo Farah is a British-Somali athlete, originally from Somaliland. He should be a role model not only for Somalis from Somalia and Somaliland but for the continent as a whole!
I wish all Somali athletes the best!
I am really concerned about their safety after returning to the country, because the mad people Al Shayatiin (The Satans) aka Al Shabab are a threat to those who play football because they killed a young goalkeeper last week, they killed a well-known comedian and TV drama player (Marshalle) and imposing a draconian law in the regions they control like my hometown, Marka which is the epicenter of high quality Somali Sports Teams and individual athletes.
Huge respect for Zamzam Mohamed Farah who represented her country with dignity and courage. I applaud her for taking part, the difficulties she must have faced simply trying to train for her event must have seemed overwhelming. Well done. It is the taking part that really counts.
May i just say how proud and happy i am for the twowho have the courage to come up and represent somalia despite the difficulties they have faced.it is indeed noble and patriotic.i agree with you madam lady that the truly deserve a medal for just being there.i wish them all the best including our own british champion mo farah.watching the olympics from our screens here in nairobi already feels like being in london with the incredible fans who have come from all around the globe.indeed britain has prooved some wrong(mitt romney) for hosting a well organised world class event. Despite the challenges.its so exciting watching this historic sporting event every day.all the best.looking forward to a successful political organisation of the coming election of the somalia legeslative members.i hope the wil that “somalia is greater than any invidual” will prevail and we the people of somalia can finally have something to look upto and hope come 20th of this month.God bless as ALL
its really amazing and wonderful story, we thank the British goverment for the moral support for the Somali atheletes, its really inspiring for the somali young generation not only in Somalia but also the british-Somali young generation, its interesting to have role models such as Mo Farah and more to come.
it is nice to Somalia in Olympic in London 2012, i was watching this event in my TV, oh am so exciting to see that
all in all Somalia will get better,
we must stand to build our nation, not foreign people can do it, only Somali citizens built their country