24 Apr 2017

Botswana’s 4x400 metres men’s relay team scooped silver medals at the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas finals on Monday in the process winning USD 30 000.
Botswana’s track nemesis, the USA relay team won the race  with a slim margin of 15 milliseconds to win gold medals as they clocked 3:02:13 while Botswana recorded 3:02:13. In position three was Jamaica with 3:02:86.
Botswana showed their intention of making it to the podium in the heats as they emerged on position one in 3:03:09, and that was an indication that they were destined for greater things.

In the finals, the Botswana coach came with a good strategy as he switched Baboloki Thebe to the second leg and pushed Karabo Sibanda to anchor, a tactical switch that worked well for Botswana given that it was reported that Thebe had an injury.
 In leg one, the experienced Isaac Makwala did not start well due to injury and he handed the baton to Thebe while in position five with a time of 46:14.
Thebe did not run his normal race, probably because he did not want to strain his injury, and he managed 44:95 before handing the baton in position four  to Onkabetse Nkobolo. Although he was under pressure, he put a brave fight and handed the baton to Sibanda in position two with a time of  45:39     

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Sibanda proved that he was world class as he memontarily went neck-to neck with USA veteran, LaShawn Merritt before securing second position with a time of 45:80.
In the women’s 4x400, Botswana finished on position six with a time of 3:30:13 while the United States won gold with 3:24:36. Silver went to Poland with 3:28:28 and Jamaica won bronze with 3:28:49.
Botswana was hit by a catastrophe in the mixed relay after Boitumelo Masilo pulled a harmstring in the back straight and failed to finish the race.

The team’s coach, Mogomotsi Otsetswe said Thebe suffered an injury on a different leg, adding that they would attend the injury as soon as they arrive home.
He said despite beating Jamaica in the heat, they were a strong team and came determined, hence he had to change his lineup to compete against them.
“To tell you the truth, the USA was very lucky on the day because the plan was to win, but due to the injuries we were forced to fight from behind.
I told the boys that they should not strain themselves, but should make sure that they hand the baton so that we make it to the finish line.”

Otsetswe further said he was happy that the women also managed to qualify for the London World Championships, saying they would work extra hard to ensure that they were a force to be reckoned with.
Athletics coach, Justice Dipeba said the men’s team performed well although they were a bit shaky at the start.
“A very good run by our third and fourth leg, coach did a good job on the switch there because Karabo gained a lot of experience at the 2016 Olympics, so having him run last was a good move, there is a lot of pressure on that leg and we know Karabo can handle that very well, he proved that at the Olympics and he proved it again this time around,” he said. ENDS