Abdul Baser Wasiqi
Wasiqi represented Afghanistan at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He injured his leg (hamstring muscle) before the marathon, but took part nonetheless.[1] He completed the race despite his injury, after limping the whole way, with a time of 4:24:17, well short of his personal best of two hours and thirty-three minutes.[2][3] He finished 111th and last, nearly an hour and a half behind the second-slowest competitor. Wasiqi reached the stadium and found "workmen [...] preparing the arena for the closing ceremony" and "tarpaulin being laid across the running track".[4][5] Preparations were suspended long enough for Baser to reach the finish line.
'Abdul Baser Wasiqi is an Afghan athlete.
Wasiqi was the only Afghan competitor at the 1996 Games.[2]
References
- "The true spirit of the Games", Reuters, August 27, 2004
- "Taleban hope to get ban revoked", Reuters, August 17, 2000
- Olympic Track and Field, Brian Belval, 2007, ISBN 1-4042-0971-9, p.24
- "Britain stuck in time warp as the world races further ahead", The Telegraph, August 5, 1996
- "Sibson could tell Sunderland about hidings to nothing", The Guardian, January 6, 2006