A five-part series from ESPN x Goat Rodeo.
Debuts everywhere September 22.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 17-year-old Somali runner Samia Yusuf Omar finished last in her 200-meter heat. But as the other runners crossed the finish line, the crowd kept cheering. For nine seconds, Samia was alone on the track.
She returned home determined to train harder and come back for London.
Four years later, an impossible journey awaited her.
What began as a search for better coaching became a journey across borders, war zones, prisons, smuggling routes, the Sahara Desert, and confronting dangerous realities.
All five episodes available here before the public premiere.
A teenage runner from war-torn Somalia arrives at the Beijing Olympics with borrowed gear, little formal training, and a dream far bigger than the race in front of her.
After Beijing, Samia returns to a Somalia where athletes are being targeted and pursuing her Olympic dream increasingly puts her life in danger.
When Ethiopia fails to provide the training Samia needs, she begins a dangerous journey north toward Libya and Europe.
Inside Libya's migrant underworld, Samia faces imprisonment, smugglers, extortion, and a rapidly closing window to reach London.
Samia attempts the Mediterranean crossing for a third time as Teresa retraces her journey aboard a modern rescue ship operating on the same waters.
Journalist Teresa Krug first met Samia while reporting in East Africa. What began as an interview with a young Olympian grew into a decades long effort to understand what happened to her.
Listen to all five episodes of The Fastest Girl in Somalia, before it premieres everywhere on September 22.