– It means absolutely everything. It’s just an EC terrain, but it means a lot to me. It will be my first time in a big championship, the 18-year-old told NRK on Thursday morning.
Just minutes earlier, he had received the phone call from his coach, with the message that he will still be allowed to participate in Sunday’s European Championships in Dublin.
Less than two days earlier, he was informed that he was not allowed to participate, because the International Athletics Federation (WA) had not had time to process the application for a transfer from Somalia to Norway.
UPPTUR: Abdullahi Dahir Rabi still gets to run the European Championships.
Photo: Bo Elliot Tenvik / Private
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– Could not believe it
Rabi became a Norwegian citizen on 30 September after living in Norway for seven years.
– I was so disappointed. I did not sleep that night, he says now on Tuesday night.
The contrast is huge.
– I could not believe it was true. What are they doing? It is kaos inside me, he says on Thursday’s phone.
Secretary General Kjetil Hildeskor of the Norwegian Athletics Association is also happy and relieved about the new turn in the case. It was he who on Tuesday received the message that Rabi was not allowed to participate in the European Championships – and the message that he still gets it.
Written confirmation
– I have received a counter-notification from my comma in WA. His transfer to Norway is approved. He will be ready to start, says Hildeskor.
He says that the Norwegian Athletics Association on Thursday received a written confirmation from the European Athletics Association that Abdullahi Dahir Rabi can run for Norway in the European Championships.
The explanation for Rabi’s Norwegian license not being ready for the European Championships in the first place was that the WA panel that deals with such cases did not manage to meet in time.
When NRK contacted WA on Wednesday afternoon, they referred to rules that state that the application for transfer must be submitted no later than three months before the registration deadline for the first competition in which an athlete wishes to represent a new nation.
NRK received no information about the specific case, but overnight the process gained new momentum.
– Good enough to take gold
On paper, Rabi is Norway’s strongest card in the junior class for men, after he became Nordic champion in superb style just over a month ago.
Although the disappointment this week led to a sleepless night and a small change in Wednesday’s training schedule, Rabi is aiming high.
– I feel good enough to take gold. The guys I beat in Nordic are among the best. That day I was so superior. And I have become better, not worse, states Abdullahi Dahir Rabi.
Early Friday morning, he and the rest of the Norwegian squad board the plane to Dublin.
NRK broadcasts Sunday’s competitions.
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