Rio, Brazil – Somali proverb says “live long enough and you will see strange things.”
Rio Olympics have featured the most Somali born athletes EVER. Most these Somali have been representing countries other than Somalia. The 5000m has two North Americans,. two Europeans, and one for Somalia.
For the first time in the history of the Olympics, FIVE Somalis are competing the 5000m in Rio Olympics. AT LEAST three of them–Mo, Mead, and Mohamed–will be competing for the gold tomorrow, Saturday, August 12. However, Bashir Abdi could be in the final, Olympic officials have not released the complete list of those competing tomorrow
1: Mohamed Muktar Jama known as “Mo” Farah (Britain) is a Somali British distance runner. He has already WON the GOLD for 10,000 metres. Mo Farah has already won the 2012 and 2016 men’s 10,000m GOLD medals. He is already one of the greatest British athletes ever. Mo is the favorite win 5000m tomorrow, making him the FIRST British runner to EVER win 4 Gold medals in two consecutive Olympics.
2: Hassan Mead (United States) is an Somali-American long-distance runner. He was a cross country and track athlete for the University of Minnesota. An eight-time All-American in his Minnesota career, four in cross country and five in track. Mead will be running tomorrow, Saturday, August 12 alongside Mo Farah and Mohamed Ahmed for the 5000m. Hassan felt in the qualification and was fortunate to have won his appeal to compete in the final round tomorrow. When Hassan Mead felt, Mo Farah almost went down as well.
3: Mohammed Ahmed (Canada) is a Canadian long-distance runner who already competed in the 10,000 meter races at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Mohamed competed alongside Bashir Abdi and Mo Farah in the 10,000m last week. He will be running tomorrow, Saturday, August 12 alongside Mo and Mead for the 5000m.
4: Bashir Abdi (Belgium) is a Somali Belgian athlete who specializes in cross-country and middle and long-distance track running. He already competed the 10,000m ast Ri alongside with Mo Farah and Mohamed Ahmed. It is not clear if he is qualified to compete for tomorrow’s 5000m. 
5: Mohamed Mohamed (Somalia) is the only one of the five runners representing Somalia at Rio Olympics. Mohamed run the qualifiers for the 5000m and did not qualify to compete for the gold tomorrow. Mohamed is one of two Olympians Somalia sent to the games this year.
This article was written by All Things Somali contributor. If you would like to be featured at allthingssomali.com, send us email at allthingssomali@gmail.com