A Sierra Leonean sprinter who went missing after competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has been found living on the streets of London.
Jimmy Thoronka was part of the 4x100m relay team that failed to make it out of the heats in Scotland and was tipped to have a bright future by Abdul Karim Sesay, president of the country's athletics association.
However, the athlete painted a bleak picture of his current circumstances when tracked down by The Guardian, and revealed the devastation Ebola had wreaked on his family back home.
"I was very excited to be coming to the Games in Glasgow," he told the newspaper. "I saw it as my big chance. I had competed in international competitions before, in Singapore and the Isle of Man, but this was the big one for me.
"I was hoping to win a medal for my country. But during the Games I got the terrible news that my uncle had died, probably from Ebola.
"I couldn't stop crying. It was difficult to continue with competing but I tried to carry on."
Discussing what happened following the Games, Thoronka continued: "I wanted to go to London for a while after the Games but my bag with my money and passport in it was stolen at Glasgow station.
"I was scared to go to the police in case they arrested me and put me in a cell, so I begged someone at the station to pay my fare to London and they agreed to do that."
Thoronka is then said to have learned of the death of his adoptive mother from Ebola while watching an African television channel during time spent staying at a friend's house in Leicester.
"Some days I get no food at all," he added. "I wash in public toilets and sleep in the park. I wake up around 4am and if I've got a bus pass I get on the night bus and sleep there until morning."
Speaking of the situation in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, athletics chief Sesay revealed: "Things here in Freetown have been very difficult since Ebola struck. Many of the athletes have lost their families to the virus and I am looking after 10 of them at my house.
"It is a very difficult time. Jimmy's chances to become one of the world's greatest sprinters would be much better if he could stay in the UK and find someone to sponsor his training."