22 Jan 2017

Amantle Montsho is back on track preparing for any competition that might come her way this season.

Montsho, who has completed a two-year ban, is training with one of the finest coaches in the country, Mogomotsi Otsetswe.

She was the first athlete to win the first gold medal for Botswana at the 2010 Commonwealth Games with a time of 50.10.

She continued with her good performance at World Championship in Daegu in 2011 winning yet another gold medal in a personal best time of 49.56, ahead of Allyson Felix of United States and Russia’s Anastasiya Kapachinskaya.

She said in a recent interview that she missed the track during her suspension and watching competitions at the comfort of her couch, made the situation worse.

“I really missed representing my country, but I have learnt a good lesson.  There is no time to cry over spilled milk.  The most important thing for me is to now focus on track, what is done is done, it’s a learning curve,” she said.

Furthermore, she said although she had not been competing, she started training on her own in October last year to keep fit.

She, however, said she was happy that Lydia Jele and Christine Botlogetswe qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games, saying despite her missing in action, some women managed to stand up for the country.

Talking about the World Championship scheduled for London in August, she said it would be unfair for Batswana to expect a lot from her, given that two years without competition was a challenge.

“I know a lot is expected but my main focus right now is to train hard, compete at the Botswana Athletics Association national championship and take it from there.  But if I happen to hit the World Championship 400m women qualifying standard of 52.10, well and good, I will be happy,” she said.

Otsetswe said he was happy of the progress they were making given that the athlete had not been on track for a while highlighting her strength and endurance, which he said were important when on track.

“So now I need to activate her, so that she can increase speed.  To be honest even if she can race tomorrow, I think she can qualify for the world champs with a very good time.  I have already tested her, like I said she has power, endurance, but we need to work harder on her speed,” he said.

Otsetswe further said what motivated him was the fact that, during training, Montsho’s concentration was always high, and she followed all the training programmes.

Montsho’s training partner, Nijel Amos said he was confident that the athlete would be back with a bang.

“Amantle still has a position in the podium.   What she needs to do is to believe in herself and I am confident that she will match her opponents,” he said.

Amos further said Montsho could still run sub 49, adding that they had been training together and her hard work should actually scare the 400 metres women out there. BOPA