Abdihakem "Abdi" Abdirahman ( so, Cabdihakiim Cabdiraxmaan, ar, عبد الحكيم عبد الرحمن; born January 1, 1977) is an American long-distance runner. He is a five-time Olympian competing for the United States in the

10,000 meters The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

and the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

Running career

Born in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, Abdirahman graduated from

Tucson High School Tucson High Magnet School , commonly referred to as THMS, THS, or Tucson High, is a public high school in Tucson, Arizona. It is part of the Tucson Unified School District with magnet programs in Technology, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. Th ...

in 1995 and attended

Pima Community College Pima Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Pima County, Arizona. It serves the Tucson metropolitan area with a community college district consisting of five campuses, four education centers, and several adult education learnin ...

before transferring to the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

for his junior and senior years. He became a U.S. citizen in 2000. At Arizona, Abdirahman was named the 1998

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year. He finished second at the 1998

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Cross Country Championships. Abdirahman competed in five straight IAAF World Cross Country Championships between 2000 and 2004, with a best finishing place of 11th in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. He competed in the

at the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, finishing tenth and fifteenth, respectively. He also finished seventh in the 10,000 meters at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, his best finish after placing 19th in 2003 and 13th in 2005. In 2008, Abdirahman won the 10,000 meters at the US Olympic Trials. He also was the men's division champion of the

Monument Avenue 10K The Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K, also known as the Monument Avenue 10K, is an annual 10-kilometer road running event, sanctioned by USA Track and Field. The race is run on historic Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. Begun in 2000, the race h ...

Richmond, VA (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. His personal best time in the 10,000 meters is 27:16.99 minutes, achieved in June 2008 at

Hayward Field Hayward Field is a track and field stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. It has been the home of the university's track and field teams since 1921, and was the on-campus ho ...

during the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University o ...

. On January 14, 2012, Abdirahman qualified for the 2012 Olympics by finishing third in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trial in Houston. At the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

he dropped out of the marathon before the halfway mark with a knee injury. Abdirahman finished 3rd in the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon in a time of 2:11:23. At the 2020 United States Olympic Trials in Atlanta, Abdirahman finished 3rd in the marathon with a time of 2:10:03, one second behind Jake Riley securing his place on a fifth Olympic team, and, at 43, becoming the oldest American runner ever to make the Olympic team. In the men's marathon at the 2020 Summer Olympics he finished 41st.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdirahman, Abdihakem 1977 births Living people American male long-distance runners Somalian male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Somalian emigrants to the United States Arizona Wildcats men's track and field athletes Arizona Wildcats men's cross country runners Tucson High School alumni 20th-century American people 21st-century American people