Sierra Leonean, Jimmy Thoronka, has been inundated with offers of help and requests for media interviews since the first report that he had been found starving and homeless in London after coming to Britain for last summer’s Commonwealth Games.
Thousands of pounds has been raised for the athlete who is facing deportation after he failed to return home to Africa after competing in Glasgow last year.
The top 100-metre sprinter was sleeping rough and going hungry, and since the story broke, and he now faces deportation after being arrested thousands from all over the world have responded to his plight.
Thoronka, 20, arrived in the UK last July with the rest of his team-mates to compete in the Commonwealth Games, running in the 4 x 100-metre relay and while he was still in the UK received the devastating news that members of his family had died from Ebola.
He said there were no immediate fights to Sierra Leone after the Games and his team-mates scattered in different directions, staying with family and friends until they could return home. Then his bag containing his money and passport were stolen and he had no idea what to do next.
"Some days I get no food at all. I wash in public toilets and sleep in the park," he said.
An appeal to support him was started by Cambridge student Richard Dent, which made £12,000 in just over 24 hours.
Thoronka, while overjoyed about the support he has received and the money raised to help with his training, is in limbo.
The Met Police said he was arrested for immigration offences. He has now been released.
He is anxiously awaits the Home Office decision about his asylum claim.
