09 Aug 2015

The Monaco Diamond League meeting will forever remain in the minds of Batswana who watched helplessly as the country’s 800 metres runner, Nijel 'Zoro' Amos lost the race at the finishing line to Amel Tuka of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Immediately after the race, there was a debate on whether Tuka could be a big threat to the Marobela born athlete at the IAAF World Championship pencilled for China this month.

This was because Tuka had won the race convincingly and even Amos could not believe what he had seen as he sat down and shook his head. Tuka clocked 1:42:51 while Amos finished on position two with 1:42:66.

Before the Monaco meeting, Tuka competed at the World Challenge in Madrid where he shocked people after clocking 1:43:84, the result that put him as the seventh fastest 800 metre runner in the world at the time.

With Tuka showing top form, Batswana were justified to press panic buttons. However, Amos’ coach, Jean Verster said the nation should not worry much about the prospect of Amos being upstaged at the World Championships.

Verster, who was in Botswana last week, said Tuka ran only one race brilliantly, adding that “one swallow doesn’t make a summer.” He said Tuka was running 1:46 last year and only made a breakthrough to 1:42 this season.

Verster said the pressure on the Bosnia and Herzegovina athlete was big, adding that he would be surprised if he was a major factor at the World Championships. “I think he would be there, but he is not a major threat to Amos,” he said.

He was of the view that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, David Rudisha, would make a comeback despite having lost at the Kenyan trials recently. He said Rudisha should not be taken lightly because he had broken the world record and won gold at the Olympics.

“He is not that old and I still think Rudisha is our main threat, and there are a few others, including Ferguson Rotich who beat Rudisha at the trials and a couple of European athletes who are running well, but at the end of the day it is still between Nijel and Rudisha. But I still put my money on Nijel,” he said.

Verster said he was confident that Amos could break the world record, adding that it could also become possible for him to become the first person in 800 metre to record a sub 1:40.

“Nijel has been running very well and I think last season he only had a bad race in Stockholm, other than that he has been consistent,” Verster said. 

Verster further said Amos had shown over the last two seasons that he could win gold at the Rio Olympics, although there was still a lot of hard work, given that other athletes were also preparing and working hard.  Ends