BARRIE Margaret Vanessa

General
FAMILY BACKGROUND
She is based in the United States of America and grew up there. Her parents Andrew and Patricia are from Sierra Leone and moved to the United States of America. "Sierra Leone definitely drives me. Being able to represent it and put it on the map and make an opportunity for sports to be able to drive the nation is definitely an honour." (thisweeknews.com, 01 Aug 2017; thelantern.com, 01 Aug 2017)

MOVE TO 400M
She began focusing on the 400m in 2017, and competed in the distance at that year's world championships in London, England. She had previously specialised in shorter sprint distances. "We had a 300m time trial [in early 2017] and I ran really, really fast and they [her coaches] were just like, 'Wow, you can run it really fast, let's try to put you in the 400m'. I only ran the 400m once [in the 2016 outdoor season] and the coaches encouraged me to take a serious look at it. I ran a good time without any strategy. But the more I trained for it, my times came down. I just loved the racing aspect. When I ran against faster girls, I ran better. But I've worked on having a strategy and I think I found my niche in the 400m." (thisweeknews.com, 01 Aug 2017; thelantern.com, 01 Aug 2017)

GIVING BACK
In 2019 she started a shoe drive, collecting lightly used footwear and funds to be distributed among young athletes in Sierra Leone. "There's a lot of people who don't have opportunities that I do. As a young athlete, I promised myself I would always give back to my country. Together my teammates and I were able to gather a huge amount of running shoes and spikes for both boys and girls. My dad went to Sierra Leone and donated every single pair personally to young athletes that needed them. I hope more people can join in with me so I can give shoes to other parts of the country. I'm going to use my influence on social media or as a racer or competitor and give them supplies, shoes and advocate any way I can so when I'm done with track, I leave a legacy." (Facebook page, 31 Oct 2019; Hannah Foullah Facebook profile, 14 May 2019; 10tv.com, 07 Apr 2019; Instagram profile, 20 Mar 2019)

OTHER STUDIES
She attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH, United States of America, during her freshman year before transferring to Ohio State University. (thisweeknews.com, 01 Aug 2017)