On a bright and sunny day at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista California, Hafsatu Kamara, Sierra Leone’s best female sprinter ran the old national records in the 200 and 100 meters for women off the record books to set new ones at 11.78 seconds for the 100 meters and 24.14 seconds in the 200 meters.
The old 100 meters record of 11.87 seconds set by Fatmata Bangoura in 2009 is now history and the time set by Hafsatu Kamara on Saturday May 23rd 2015 of 11.78 seconds will now have to be ratified by the Sierra Leone Amateur Athletics Association and the IAAF as the new national record for women.
Hafsatu Kamara who currently trains at the World Athletics Training Center in Phoenix Arizona on an IOC Solidarity Scholarship which was awarded to Sierra Leonean athletes by the IOC for the country’s athletes to prepare for next year’s Olympic games in Rio courtesy of the efforts of the SLNOC Executive team led by Dr. Patrick Coker, Mr. Alie Koroma and the head of the SLAA Mr. Karim Sesay is already paying dividends this early and bodes well for the country’s efforts to put up a good showing at the Olympic Games next year in Brazil.
A good showing by the country in Brazil and other sporting events it participates in worldwide will bode well in its overall rebranding efforts that will cast the country in a better light away from the negative imagery of war and Ebola.