While athletes were competing in the Scottish city, a state of emergency was declared in the African nation due to the spread of Ebola.

Members of Sierra Leone's delegation considered extending their stay in the UK as the deadly virus took hold, and some were forced to take tests to see if they were positive.

Unisa Deen Kargbo, the Chef de Mission, flew to Nanjing after the Games as he was due to reprise his role at the impending Summer Youth Olympics.

It was not to be, however, as Chinese authorities banned Sierra Leone from competing.

"I still remember, we were in Glasgow when the Ebola outbreak was announced and a state of emergency was imposed in our country," said Kargbo, who will also be Chef de Mission at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

"The athletes who were supposed to go to Nanjing for the Youth Olympic Games were stopped from participating. That was devastating.

"We were also stopped from going to the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa. 

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

Sierra Leone were still allowed to march at the Opening Ceremony in Nanjing, and as Kargbo was the only person from the country there he had the strange experience of carrying 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." 

After losing athletes due to the Ebola crisis, Sierra Leone then had to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

"When the COVID pandemic was announced, our Government and our medical facilities didn't know how to deal with that," Kargbo, who has served as Sierra Leone's Chef de Mission at major Games since London 2012, said.

"The first thing was they shut down all sports. 

"We only have one stadium and all sports converge there.

"So when that place was shut down, we were not training.

"We don't have many private gyms in Sierra Leone, we all depend on the one gym.

"We don't have a single indoor stadium.

"It's only by the grace that we are able to come back quickly and compete when restrictions were lifted.

"But some athletes did not come back, they went to work during COVID and they lost all their athletic skills."

Sport in Sierra Leone is beginning to emerge from the other side and the loss of athletes has provided opportunities for the next generation.

"We recovered," Kargbo, who is President of the Sierra Leone Paralympic Committee, said.

"Today we are bringing in new athletes.

"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." 

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.

Athletes to watch include sprinters Fatmata Awolo, who is based in the United States, and Hafsatu Kamara.

There is also a good story in boxing after Canadian bantamweight Sara Haghighat-joo opted to switch allegiances to Sierra Leone, where she has a family connection. 

Haghighat-joo has won national amateur titles in both Canada and Ireland, and wants to help develop women's boxing in the African nation.

No athlete from Sierra Leone has won a medal at the Commonwealth Games, but the event is a big deal in the country and considered by Kargbo to be more important than the Olympics.

Only four athletes from the country were able to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last year, and the bigger team size and greater number of sports available at the Commonwealths sparks a lot of excitement.

"In Sierra Leone, the biggest Games is the Commonwealth Games," said Kargbo.

"That's where we have so many athletes competing, that's where we have many associations competing.

"So the Government has big interest, and the public is also very interested in the Commonwealth Games.

"It's bigger than the Olympics in fact in Sierra Leone.

"The Government is more willing to support the preparation."  

After attending the Birmingham 2022 open days in March, Kargbo believes that organisers are in a good place.

"I was very much impressed with the preparation," he said.

"I was also Chef de Mission for the 2014 Glasgow Games. At the time of the inspection, Birmingham is much more ready. 

"One year to the Games, Glasgow was nowhere near Birmingham.

"So I think Birmingham is ready. I think we are ready for a good Games."

In Birmingham, sport will be able to take centre stage for Sierra Leone, which has competed at 12 Commonwealth Games since debuting in 1958.

The country was declared Ebola-free in March 2016 and local people are moving on.

"We don't talk about it anymore," said Kargbo. "Nobody's thinking about it anymore. 

"And with coronavirus, for the past few months nobody has tested positive in our country. 

"We are normal people again."