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.

In the 200 meters the Old records which stood at 24.32 seconds set by Eunice Barber back in 1996 and has stood for 19 years will however still continue to stand  as the time ran by Hafsatu Kamara in her race was recorded with a tailwind reading of over 3 miles per hour  and therefore is considered Wind Aided but at the rate that Hafsatu is currently going it is only a matter of time before she  breaks that 200 meters record again with a legal wind reading of below 2 miles per hour which is considered legal and acceptable to stand as a record.

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.

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