Sierra Leone cyclist not missing, say Glasgow 2014 organisers

Organisers of the Commonwealth Games say that a cyclist from Sierra Leone who failed to start last Thursday’s time trial and who disappeared from the athlete’s village is not in fact missing, as had been feared. However, a number of members of the African nation’s team are thought to be planning to extend their stay in the UK as their home country remains in the grip of an outbreak of the Ebola virus.

According to BBC News Scotland, Glasgow 2014 have confirmed that Sierra Leone’s chef de mission knows the whereabouts of the cyclist in question, Mohamed Tholley. He vanished on Thursday, leaving behind his room key and missed the time trial.

Earlier, his team mate Moses Sesay had spent four days in a Glasgow hospital in isolation and was tested for Ebola after complaining of feeling unwell. He was given the all clear, as was another athlete from Sierra Leone, table tennis player Samuel Morris, who was also tested.

Sesay, who finished last in the time trial, won by England’s Alex Dowsett, was a non-finisher in yesterday’s rainswept road race where the winner, Geraint Thomas of Wales, was one of just a dozen riders to stay the course.

With the Ebola outbreak now claiming more than 700 lives in four West African countries, including Sierra Leone, some of the nation’s athletes are said to be scared to return home.

Chef de mission Unisa Deen Kargbo said: "Athletes have come to me and said they don't want to return because of the Ebola situation.

"There have been discussions with back home to see what the final decision will be on that. I have a mandate to return the athletes on 5 August and that's what I'm working towards now."

When he was asked whether some athletes might stay in Britain, he said: "The UK government will have to decide if that's an option, but I don't know."

He added that Tholley had the legal right to remain in the UK until September, and that he hadn’t told anyone on the team that he planned to leave the athlete’s village.

The cyclist’s coach, Winston Crowther, said Tholley could have been worried about Ebola but that other issues could have been involved too in his departure from the village, including economic reasons.