A day after the African Athletics Championships came to a close in the South African City of Durban athletes representing various African nations boarded their respective flights to head back to their base of training or home for many.
Sierra Leone’s all female team which participated in the championship put up a decent performance given the troubles they faced in acquiring funding for their participation in the championships. The shortfall in funding was so severe that one of the standout athletes in Maggie Barrie of Ohio State University was not able to join the team for the trip to Durban.
Sierra Leone’s all female team which participated in the championship put up a decent performance given the troubles they faced in acquiring funding for their participation in the championships. The shortfall in funding was so severe that one of the standout athletes in Maggie Barrie of Ohio State University was not able to join the team for the trip to Durban.
In the end Ngozi Musa of Harvard University, Aisha Naibe-wey of the University of Virginia and Hafsatu Kamara of the World Training Center in Phoenix Arizona were the only ones who were able to secure funding to participate at the Championship.
Ngozi Musa was able to put up a decent performance in her heat with a time of 11.71 seconds which qualified her into the Semi Finals of the women’s 100 meters. However, Ngozi was not able to compete in her Semi-Final race after an Official at the meet misled her to believe that she had not made the semi-finals and therefore assuming she was not on the list she was a no show at her race, also failing to check the list of entries herself an admitted oversight on her part was part of the issue.
Ngozi Musa was able to put up a decent performance in her heat with a time of 11.71 seconds which qualified her into the Semi Finals of the women’s 100 meters. However, Ngozi was not able to compete in her Semi-Final race after an Official at the meet misled her to believe that she had not made the semi-finals and therefore assuming she was not on the list she was a no show at her race, also failing to check the list of entries herself an admitted oversight on her part was part of the issue.
Hafsatu Kamara the current national record holder in the 100 meters did not arrive in Durban, South Africa from Washington DC till late Wednesday evening for the meet, by which time the 100 meters heats had been ran and she had to settle for running the 200 meters.
She stepped on the track on Saturday June 25th to compete in the first rounds of the 200 meters and was only able to place 5th in her heat with a time of 24.99 seconds which was not enough to move forward for the next round.
400 meters Hurdler Aisha Naibe-Wey on the other hand was able to make it all the way to the finals in her event and that is the first time in about two decades since a Sierra Leonean athlete made a major international meet final.
She ran in a heat with Wanda Nel of South Africa; the number one ranked African women 400 meters hurdler and placed second after her with a time of 58.6 seconds. She would eventually settle for a 7th place finish in the finals in which she had been highly hopeful of medaling.
400 meters Hurdler Aisha Naibe-Wey on the other hand was able to make it all the way to the finals in her event and that is the first time in about two decades since a Sierra Leonean athlete made a major international meet final.
She ran in a heat with Wanda Nel of South Africa; the number one ranked African women 400 meters hurdler and placed second after her with a time of 58.6 seconds. She would eventually settle for a 7th place finish in the finals in which she had been highly hopeful of medaling.
The trip to South Africa of Sierra Leone’s new crop of runners shows what’s in the offing as far as talent and potential, but also what is significantly lacking in terms of financial backing to support athletes in their training as well as making it to major international events.
By: Editor
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