Good Bye
Sierra Leone USA based Olympian, Margarette Vanessa Barrie popularly known as Maggie Barrie, has announced her retirement from track athletics.
Barrie posted: “I’m crying as I write this. Those that understand the blood, sweat, and tears that go behind pursuing a dream with your whole heart will understand this emotion”.
“Of finally accomplishing your goal and deciding it’s time to move on”.
“Track & Field was the air I breathed for 17 years since I was a little girl. The only dream I ever had was to be an Olympian. It didn’t happen in the way I imagined, but I still accomplished it”, she added.
“It was a bittersweet moment. To finish my Olympic race and just feel in my mind, body, and soul that I was done. That I had no more to give”.
“Done with this amazing, whirlwind life of being a pro athlete”, she expressed her frustration.
Barrie further cited: “Track & Field gave me once-in-a-lifetime experiences, enabled me to travel the world and be coached by amazing individuals. It taught me how to be brave when no one believed in me and how to stand tall when a whole country was counting on me to represent them. I’m so thankful to God for this experience”.
“Now, the book closes on this part of my life. I will always reread it with happiness and pride for all I did. Thank you to everyone who supported me and cheered me on”.
“I’m ready to start my new chapter.
Barrie who won the 400meters event for Sierra Leone in the IAAF World Challenge hosted in Brazil, in 2019 has finally hang her spikes and hopeful to take another pathway in her life”.
The sprinter, competed in several competitions for Sierra Leone in the 400, 200 and 100 meters events.
She represented Sierra Leone in the Women’s 400 meters at the 2017 World Championships, In 2019 and she competed in the Women’s 200 meters and 4×400 meters relay at the African Games held in Rabat, Morocco.
Barrie was expecting to be entered into the 400 metres race at the 2020 Summer Olympics Games hosted in Tokyo, Japan. However, an administrative error saw her entered into the 100 meters instead.
She ran a season’s best time to come through the preliminary round and improved her season’s best again in the heat but didn’t proceed to the semi final.
