Education
Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Abdirahman graduated from Tucson High School in 1995 and attended Pima Community College before transferring to the University of Arizona for his junior and senior years.
Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Abdirahman graduated from Tucson High School in 1995 and attended Pima Community College before transferring to the University of Arizona for his junior and senior years.
He was a four-time Olympian competing for the United States in the 10,000 meters and the marathon. He became a United States. citizen in 2000. At Arizona, Abdirahman was named the 1998 Pacific-10 Conference Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year.
He finished second at the 1998 National Collegiate Athletic Association 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. He competed in the 10,000 meters at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, finishing tenth and fifteenth, respectively.
He also finished seventh in the 10,000m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, having finished thirteenth in 2005 and nineteenth in 2003. On January 14, 2012, Abdirahman qualified for the 2012 Olympics by finishing third in the United States. Olympic Marathon Trial in Houston.
At the 2012 Olympics he dropped out of the marathon before the half way mark with a knee injury.