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Utøya survivor told he could never dance again

Mohamed "Mo" Farah Abdi, the Utøya survivor whose song 'Heal' is competing to be Norway's Eurovision entry, was told by doctors he would never be able to dance again, he has revealed in an interview with NRK.

Published: 25 February 2014 14:35 CET

Utøya survivor told he could never dance again

Mohamed Abdi Farah, at 18, performing on Norway's X Factor in 2010. Photo: Aleksander Andersen/Scanpix

The 22-year-old singer and dancer injured his leg during Anders Breivik's attack on a Labour youth camp in 2011, putting his nascent pop career on hold.

"The doctors said the leg would never be the same again. I had to learn to walk all over again," he told NRK.

Now however, with the help of physiotherapists and nearly three years of intense training, he can dance as well as he ever could and will take to the stage at the Melodi Grand Prix alongside some of Norway's best hip hop dancers.

"That I can now dance like before is a little miracle I never thought it would be granted to me," he said. "There could have been another Mo who just had to stand still on stage. I owe the doctors and physios who helped me an incredibly big thank you."

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Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Oslo Operahus .Photo by Arvid Malde on Unsplash

Only one in ten Norwegians plan to travel abroad this summer

Around ten percent of people in Norway are planning to take a holiday abroad this summer, according to a survey carried out by tourism organisation NHO Reiseliv.

Seven out of ten respondents said they still plan to holiday in Norway this year, even if they receive a vaccination before the holidays start.

READ MORE: ‘My arguments didn’t matter’: How I ended up in a hotel quarantine in Norway

Viken and Vestland are this year’s most popular travel destinations for Norwegians planning a “staycation”. Young people were the most likely to want to remain in Norway this summer. Just under half of those aged between 18 and 29 said they wished to stay in Norway this summer.

Third of Utøya survivors have received abuse or threats

A third of Utøya survivors have been victims of hate speech or received threats, according to a new survey.

Three-quarters of respondents said that the reason they received the abuse was linked directly to the Utøya terror attack, the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Studies (NKVTS) found.

The massacre on Utøya was the second of two terror attacks carried out by Anders Breivik on July 22nd, 2011. Of the 69 people who died in the attack, 32 were under the age of 18.

Fewer in Oslo willing to ditch cars

A climate survey carried out by the city of Oslo has shown that fewer people than before are willing to cut back on using their cars. The proportion of those who think that Oslo city centre should be car-free has fallen to 45 percent from 52 percent last year.

READ ALSO: Could Norway introduce mandatory inbuilt car breathalysers

When asked whether Oslo City Council had gone too far in removing cars from the city centre, almost half said that they believed that this was the case.

“A change in the attitude around these measures may be due to more people feeling dependent on cars during the pandemic. There has been a lot of debate about measures that have been introduced or are planned to be introduced,” Heidi Sørensen, Director of the Climate Agency, told the Dagsavisen newspaper

Tighter Coronavirus measures in Trondheim

Gyms, museums and swimming pools have been closed, and alcohol service in hospitality has been stopped in Trondheim. The new measures come barely a week after restrictions were last tightened.

“We need to shut down most of Trondheim to get control. It is only days since we last tightened measures, but we are in a situation where we must take even stronger action,” Morten Wolden, the municipal director for Trondheim, told state broadcaster NRK.

Norway reports 292 new Covid-19 cases

On Monday, 292 new coronavirus infections were registered in Norway. This is a drop of 52 compared to the seven-day average of 344.

In Oslo, 48 cases were recorded, an increase of two on the capital’s seven day average of 46.

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 1.0. This means that every ten people that are infected, will, on average, only infect another ten people, indicating that the infection level is stable.

Total number of Covid-19 cases so far. Source: NIPH

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