Photo Credit: University of Minnesota Athletics.
Former International Sprinter for Sierra Leone now Assistant Sprints Coach at the University of Minnesota, Ibrahim Kabia on Thursday July 28th, 2022 voiced his outright frustration at the lack of showing by Sierra Leone at global sporting events; citing the lone athlete entry phenomena for a series of major International competitions in recent years with rising star Dallas/Fort Worth based Fatmata Awolo being the latest at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships in Eugene Oregon USA.
Coach Kabia who once competed for Sierra Leone at a number of global championships and was at one point in time the fastest Sierra Leonean athlete alive with personal best times of 10.35 Seconds in the 100 Meters, 6.63 Seconds in the 60 Meters (Indoors) and 20.96 seconds in the 200 Meters sounded very incensed on the phone asking me pointedly why is Sierra Leone always a no show at global sporting events … when we can boast of the pedigree of the likes of a Will Claye (US Triple and Long Jumper of Sierra Leone descent), Jeneba Tarmoh former US Sprinter and Relay Gold Medalist of Sierra Leone descent and Eunice Barber a World Champion Heptathlete who ended up competing for France due to a lack of support in Sierra Leone.
Liberian Sprint Star Emmanuel Matadi
Citing the recent rise of Liberia with athletes like Joseph Fahnbulleh, 200 Meters Finalist at the Tokyo Olympic Games and the recently concluded World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon and Emmanuel Matadi a perennial Top 10 African Sprinter on the global stage, athletes who like Coach Kabia himself grew up in Minnesota and more recently the rise and consistent showing of Ghana at the elite level with their relay team steadily making the finals at major Championships, Coach Kabia blurted out “What's wrong with Sierra Leone” ... How can we be satisfied with such mediocrity?
I was not taken aback because I knew this was coming and I told Coach Kabia that you are not alone in your frustration because you are one of many I expected such a query from.
I went on to explain to him the efforts that some of us have made and have been making to get things right but were being stonewalled and frustrated by a bunch of individuals who in the first place have yet to understand the global dynamics of sports as it stands in this 21st century.
I told him that in fact as we speak a major issue of this dysfunction is currently at the Chief Ministers (J.J Saffa’s) Office to resolve and that is the matter of the Administering of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association (SLAA) a key factor in moving the sport forward.
I explained to him that the Association has been plagued with infighting for quite a while now but with a formidable challenge recently coming from a slew of former athletes against the Administration that had been in office for over a decade with not much to show for 12 years of stewardship of the Association it seems like a resolution is finally on the horizon.
The current determined stance of the former athletes stems from the fact that the ‘former administration’ had in the past couple years pushed through an amendment to the constitution to extend the term limit of the President to 3 Terms, an extremely bold move a move that led to an uproar and eventually a court case.
Stakeholders and the recently appointed Director of Sports Mr. Haroun Korjie took upon himself personally to try and resolve the feud so he pushed for a resolution of the court case which led to the conduct of the long awaited Association elections under the supervision of a 7 Man Oversight Committee that saw the incumbent Alhaji Abdul Karim Sesay defeated by former National Sprinter Martin Bangura who is now the substantive President of the Association and has so duly been recognized by the National Olympic Committee.
However there has not been a formal handing over of the instruments of governance of the Association with a new challenge coming from the former Executive to redo the election.
So the matter has now been referred to the highest level of government and the outcome of which will be determined by the office of the Chief Minister; Hon. Jacob Jusu Saffa.
I was not taken aback because I knew this was coming and I told Coach Kabia that you are not alone in your frustration because you are one of many I expected such a query from.
I went on to explain to him the efforts that some of us have made and have been making to get things right but were being stonewalled and frustrated by a bunch of individuals who in the first place have yet to understand the global dynamics of sports as it stands in this 21st century.
I told him that in fact as we speak a major issue of this dysfunction is currently at the Chief Ministers (J.J Saffa’s) Office to resolve and that is the matter of the Administering of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association (SLAA) a key factor in moving the sport forward.
I explained to him that the Association has been plagued with infighting for quite a while now but with a formidable challenge recently coming from a slew of former athletes against the Administration that had been in office for over a decade with not much to show for 12 years of stewardship of the Association it seems like a resolution is finally on the horizon.
The current determined stance of the former athletes stems from the fact that the ‘former administration’ had in the past couple years pushed through an amendment to the constitution to extend the term limit of the President to 3 Terms, an extremely bold move a move that led to an uproar and eventually a court case.
Stakeholders and the recently appointed Director of Sports Mr. Haroun Korjie took upon himself personally to try and resolve the feud so he pushed for a resolution of the court case which led to the conduct of the long awaited Association elections under the supervision of a 7 Man Oversight Committee that saw the incumbent Alhaji Abdul Karim Sesay defeated by former National Sprinter Martin Bangura who is now the substantive President of the Association and has so duly been recognized by the National Olympic Committee.
However there has not been a formal handing over of the instruments of governance of the Association with a new challenge coming from the former Executive to redo the election.
So the matter has now been referred to the highest level of government and the outcome of which will be determined by the office of the Chief Minister; Hon. Jacob Jusu Saffa.
Sierra Leone which enjoyed a gradual and significant growth and development of the Sport from the Inter-Sec years of the 1980’s and 1990’s with two major Silver Medals in the Men’s 4x100 Meters Relays coming at the 1991 World University Games in Sheffield, England and the All African Games in Cairo Egypt was starting to churn out major international talents like Eunice Barber, Sanusi Turay, Francis Keita, Denton Guy Williams, Haroun Korjie, Melrose Mansaray, Pierre Lisk, Thomas Ganda, Horace Dove Edwin, Benjamin Grant (BeeGees) the Twins Josephus and Joselyn Thomas and Abdulai Kaikai (Fish) athletes who followed in the wake of their predecessors Felix Sandy, Estella Meheux, Abdul Mansaray, Sebleh Smith, the Late Dick Tucker, Apollo Suma Keita, Ivan Benjamin, William Akabi Davis, Columba Blango, Abu Iscandri, Paul Parkinson, Prince Duwai, David Sawyer Modupe Jonah and Walter During to name but a few out of a slew of great household names that graced the track and entertained Sierra Leoneans for years was now at the cusp of a major breakthrough at global significance but then things unfortunately took a turn for the worse with the 11 years Civil War and exodus of hundreds of thousands from the country.
The sport then fell on hard times, but in the early 2000’s as the country started its recovery from an 11 years Civil War help came in the form of the former National Record holder in the 100 Meters in Sanusi Turay who returned from the UK to help lift the sport up with quality and well sponsored Track Meets, but alas he would become frustrated and eventually disillusioned with attitudes towards him by ill-informed individuals, he packed up his bags and left for Nigeria where he happily resides today with his Wife and Kids.
By the end of our conversation Coach Ibrahim who is currently in Los Angeles on a Recruiting tour for his University indicated his willingness to help in any way he can but limitedly so due to NCAA Compliance issues, albeit he indicated his availability to do whatever he can to assist with changing the narrative so that by the next World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary and the African Games in Ghana(2023) and eventually the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Sierra Leone will have a fighting chance at a decent showing.
Concluding Coach Ibrahim pointedly stated that talent is not our problem in Sierra Leone, because if we have talents of the pedigree of a Will Claye, Jeneba Tarmoh and Eunice Barber it means that we have tons of kids who are potential world class sprinters, jumpers and distance runners, so the problem is something else other than athletic excellence that is holding us back.
Coach Ibrahim has the ability to recruit Athletes from Sierra Leone but again if you don’t have athletes with the academic credentials to go with their performance there is nothing he can do, because with the NCAA you cannot cut corners.
Young and upcoming athletes in Sierra Leone will have to understand that the only way to opportunities and scholarships is to stay in school and pursue their education with as much passion as their sports careers. There are opportunities at the collegiate level but to get recruited from Sierra Leone they will have to measure up and pass all requisite tests matching their athletic excellence.
By the end of our conversation Coach Ibrahim who is currently in Los Angeles on a Recruiting tour for his University indicated his willingness to help in any way he can but limitedly so due to NCAA Compliance issues, albeit he indicated his availability to do whatever he can to assist with changing the narrative so that by the next World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary and the African Games in Ghana(2023) and eventually the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Sierra Leone will have a fighting chance at a decent showing.
Concluding Coach Ibrahim pointedly stated that talent is not our problem in Sierra Leone, because if we have talents of the pedigree of a Will Claye, Jeneba Tarmoh and Eunice Barber it means that we have tons of kids who are potential world class sprinters, jumpers and distance runners, so the problem is something else other than athletic excellence that is holding us back.
Coach Ibrahim has the ability to recruit Athletes from Sierra Leone but again if you don’t have athletes with the academic credentials to go with their performance there is nothing he can do, because with the NCAA you cannot cut corners.
Young and upcoming athletes in Sierra Leone will have to understand that the only way to opportunities and scholarships is to stay in school and pursue their education with as much passion as their sports careers. There are opportunities at the collegiate level but to get recruited from Sierra Leone they will have to measure up and pass all requisite tests matching their athletic excellence.
There is also the Diaspora factor which has given Sierra Leone Athletes like Maggie Barrie, Ngozi Musa, Hafsatu Kamara, Aisha Naibe-Wey and VaSheku Sheriff in recent years with many more to come as a result of hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans scattering over the globe during the war years now living in the Diaspora ready to step up and compete for the land of their ancestry.
There is hope that things can be turned around with all hands on deck to support the transformation of sports for the nation starting from but not limited to resolute support from the President to the Minister of Sports and the many sports loving Sierra Leoneans around the world lending their support where they can (In-Kind and Financially).
Stay Tuned !!!
There is hope that things can be turned around with all hands on deck to support the transformation of sports for the nation starting from but not limited to resolute support from the President to the Minister of Sports and the many sports loving Sierra Leoneans around the world lending their support where they can (In-Kind and Financially).
Stay Tuned !!!
By Leslie Koroma Sr
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