Featured image collage (select members of Liberia Olympic Track & Field Team 2024: Ebony Morrison, Jabez Reeves, Thelma Davies, Joseph Fahnbulleh)
For the last 12 months, Liberia’s track and field athletes have been competing to qualify for the Paris 2024 Games. Pushing themselves to hit the mandatory entry standards to represent Liberia on one of the biggest international sports stage. Now, the moment of truth has arrived.
Head coach for Team Liberia’s Olympic track team, Sayon Cooper, shared his excitement with Go Team Liberia.
“This Liberian Olympic team selection is one of the most talented of its kind,” Cooper told GTL. “The goal is to advance to the finals in each participating event and fight to get on the podium and bring Mama Liberia its first Olympic medal.”
Here are the members of the 2024 Liberia Olympic Track & Field Team.
Liberia Olympic Track & Field Team 2024:
Men’s 100m
Emmanuel Matadi will be making his third Olympic appearance for Team Liberia. Matadi holds Liberia’s men’s 100m national record, 9.97, and has been having a stellar season.
The 33-year-old runner qualified for Paris earlier on the pathways, running a personal best at the Ed Murphy Classics in August 2023.
Matadi ran the men’s 100 and 200m for Liberia at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and qualified for both events at the Tokyo Olympics, but only completed the men’s 100m. Both times, he was not able to advance past round one.
This year, Matadi will have an opportunity to focus on the main event and push himself further than before.
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Women’s 100m
- Destiny Smith-Barnett
- Thelma Davies
Two new women will make their Olympic debut on Liberia’s 2024 Olympic track team, Destiny Smith-Barnett (27) and Thelma Davies (24). Both ladies formerly ran for the US and officially switched allegiance to Team Liberia earlier in the year.
Smith-Barnett qualified for the team at the Last Chance Sprint Series in Oakland, California, USA on 7 June . She ran a national-record setting 10.99 seconds at the event.
Davies, who was recruited from Louisiana State University, qualified to compete in the women’s 100m Olympic race at the 2024 Outdoor SEC Championships, running an 11.01.
Women’s 200m
Davies also qualified for the women’s 200m Olympic race, at the same SEC Championships. She ran 22.17, and will compete in this event in Paris.
Women’s 100mH
Ebony Morrison (29) will rejoin the Liberia Olympic Track team, after running a personal best, setting a new national record, and winning the title in the women’s 100 meter hurdles at the African Championships last month.
Morrison made her Olympic debut with Team Liberia at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and was the co-flag bearer.
Men’s 200m
Joseph Fahnbulleh (22) will represent Liberia in the men’s 200m race in Paris. This is perhaps the most highly anticipated event for Team Liberia, after Fahnbulleh finished top 5 in his Olympic debut in Tokyo. He also became the African men’s 100m and 200m champion last month.
Fahnbulleh, who is the national men’s 200m record holder running 19.83, acted as the co-flag bearer in Tokyo and is a highly decorated NCAA champion recruited to the Liberia athletics team from University of Florida.
Men’s 4×100 relay
- Emmanuel Matadi
- Joseph Fahnbulleh
- Jabez Reeves
- John Sherman
- Akeem Sirleaf
The men’s 4×100 relay team gave an impressive performance at the Bahamas Relays in May.
The group led by Akeem Sirleaf, followed by Matadi, Jabez Reeves (21), and the star anchor Fahnbulleh had the entire internet celebrating the out-of-nowhere finish that solidified the men’s relay team’s spot in Paris.
John Sherman (19), a young Liberian-American sprinter attending Middle Tennessee State University, who set a record with the team in Ghana at the African Games will be a part of the men’s 4×100 relay A team in Paris.
Sirleaf, who experienced a physical issue at the African Championships and is considered a veteran member of the team, will attend the Olympics as an alternate in the men’s 4×100 relay.
This concludes the eight member athletic team that will be representing Liberia at the Paris Olympics.
Unfortunately the Liberian boxers on the pathway to Paris did not qualify for this year’s Games. But there’s an exciting future for Liberian sports and GTL will be here to continue pushing it forward.
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This team is truly remarkable! Their dedication and hard work towards achieving their life goals is truly inspiring. With their unwavering commitment to growth and improvement, there is no doubt that they will successfully reach all their goals. Best of luck to you all, and may you continue to thrive.