A state of emergency due to Ebola was declared in the African nation as it competed at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, and athletes were later banned from that year's Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing.

The country was also unable to compete at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa, and some athletes drifted away from sport.

History then repeated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some competitors not returning following periods of lockdown.

"Some athletes did not come back, they went to work during COVID and they lost all their athletic skills," said Unisa Deen Kargbo, Sierra Leone's Chef de Mission for Birmingham 2022.

With sport reemerging in the country, the loss of athletes has provided opportunities in Birmingham for the next generation.

"Today we are bringing in new athletes," said Kargbo, the President of the Sierra Leone Paralympic Committee who has been the country's Chef de Mission at major Games since London 2012.

"We have more young athletes than before and at the Birmingham Games we will be taking more younger athletes than at any other Commonwealth Games.

"They are stronger and they are strong to compete.

"We had no option, as when we had coronavirus we lost most of the big athletes. 

"So we have to go back and train the young athletes, for the Commonwealths, for the African Games and eventually for Paris 2024." 

Kargbo flew directly to Nanjing from Glasgow in 2014 as Ebola took hold, before his country was banned.

"That was devastating," he said.

"It was damaging for the athletes as they had no opportunity in getting back into sport."

Sierra Leone was still allowed to march at the Opening Ceremony in Nanjing, and as Kargbo was the only person from the country there he was left to carry the flag.

"The team was stopped from entering Nanjing," he said. 

"I had the opportunity to go there because I was in the UK when the Ebola outbreak was announced in Sierra Leone. 

"So I flew directly from the UK to Beijing and that was how I entered China. 

"But even though I was coming from the UK, because I was carrying a Sierra Leone passport I was also placed in quarantine with the Nigerians and the Guineans. 

"At the Opening Ceremony, I was the only person there and able to carry the flag of the country. 

"It was unfortunate. 

"When you carry your country's flag, you have to be cheerful, but the manner in which I carried the flag wasn't anything to cheer." 

Sierra Leone is planning to take a team of 30 athletes to Birmingham 2022 in athletics, badminton, boxing, judo, powerlifting, swimming, table tennis and wrestling.

The country has never won a Commonwealth Games medal.

For the full interview with Kargbo click here.