TUCSON, Arizona – The Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission inducted Arizona cross country and track and field alumnus Abdi Abdirahman into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
Abdirahman is one of the most decorated runners in Arizona cross country and track and field history. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Abdirahman and his family moved to Tucson, where he eventually graduated from Tucson High School in 1995. After graduation, he attended Pima Community College before transferring to Arizona for his junior and senior years. Abdirahman finished his Wildcat career as a 3x Outdoor All-American, 2x Indoor Track & Field All-American and 2x Cross Country All-American. He is a 4-time conference champion, twice in the outdoor 5 km, once in the outdoor 10 km and once in cross country.
As a junior, Abdirahman placed seventh at the 1997 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, in his first season as a Wildcat. He followed that up with a senior year full of accolades. Abdirahman was crowned conference champion for his victory at the 1998 Pac-10 Cross Country Championships, where he placed first with a time of 23:23. He was also named the 1998 Pac-10 Conference Athlete of the Year. To cap off his Wildcat cross country season and career, he placed second at the 1998 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Lawrence, Kansas. His best team finish helped the Arizona men place 11th at the championships. Both of his NCAA Cross Country Championship finishes as a junior and senior earned him All-America honors.
For indoor track and field, Abdirahman recorded back-to-back seventh-place finishes in the men’s 5,000 m at the NCAA Indoor Championships, clocking times of 14:06.38 in 1998 and 14:10.10 in 1999. Both finishes earned him the indoor all-around -America honors. As for outdoor track and field, Abdirahman finished his career as a 3-time conference champion. As a junior in 1998, he won both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Pac-10 Conference Championships. He then followed that up by repeating in the 5,000m as a senior at the 1999 Pac-10 Conference Championships. At the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Abdirahman placed second in the 5,000 m with a time of 13:40.61 and fifth in the 10,000 m with a time of 28:46.36. The following year, he recorded a sixth-place finish in the 10,000 m at the 1999 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a time of 29:34.03. All three of those top eight finishes earned him First Team All-America honors. His collegiate personal best time of 28:06.65 in the 10,000m ranks second all-time in school history, and his collegiate personal best time of 13:40.61 in the 5,000m ranks seventh all-time in school history.
After graduating from Arizona, Abdirahman continued to work professionally, posting a long list of accomplishments. At the top of this list are his five Olympic appearances in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2020/21. In 2000, Abdirahman officially became a United States citizen and qualified to compete in the 2000 games for Team USA. At the event, he placed 10th in the 10,000. In 2004, he finished 15th in the 10,000m and followed that with another 15th in 2008. Beginning in 2012, he competed in his first Olympic marathon by a margin of 10,000m. Most recently in 2020/21 he placed 41st in the marathon, qualifying for the event at an astonishing 43 years.
Abdirahman competed in eight world championships, including five for cross country and three for athletics (10,000m). His highest finish at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships was 11th in 2002 and his highest finish at the 2007 IAAF World Championships was seventh in the 10,000 metres. He is also a 4-time USATF 10,000m champion, with wins in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008. His other USATF 10,000m championship finishes include two second-place finishes, one third-place finish, one fifth-place finish , one eighth place and one 15th place. He also placed seventh once in the 5000 meters.
At the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon, Abdirahman broke the USATF Masters marathon record with a time of 2:11:34 and placed ninth. He then lowered that time at the 2020 Olympic Team Trials to 2:10:03, where he won the race and qualified for the Olympics at the age of 43. In 2017, he finished third at the TCS New York City Marathon, making him the oldest male competitor to finish on the podium in New York. He also has finishes of fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth (twice) and 14th in the New York City Marathon. Additionally, at the Olympic Team Trials he placed third in the 10,000m in 2000 and third in the marathon in 2012. He has also competed in the Chicago Marathon (placed fourth), the Boston Marathon (placed sixth and 15th two times) and the USATF Half Marathon Championship (won in 2012, placed seventh in 2016). Abdirahman has excelled in other USATF Championship events, such as the USATF 20km Road Running Championships, which he won in 2005 and 2011 and placed third in 2013, the USATF 10km Road Running Championships, where he finished sixth in 2016, and the USATF 10 Mile Road Running Championship, which he won in 2005 and 2006, placed sixth in 2011, finished 10th in 2016, and finished 13th in 2012.
In 2004, he was inducted into the Arizona Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2019, he was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. Abdirahman still lives in Tucson today.
The event was held in Scottsdale and Abdirahman joined his 2023 colleagues Rich Dozer, Terry Francona, Richard Jefferson, Jerry Kindle, Charlie Turner Thorne and Bobby Winkles.
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