18 Apr 2018

Team Botswana arrived home April 18 from the Gold Coast, Australia, where they had an outstanding performance at the just ended 2018 Commonwealth Games. The team was welcomed by Acting President, Slumber Tsogwane and cabinet ministers at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport.

Welcoming the team, Tsogwane said the team had made Botswana proud at the Commonwealth Games given that what they did was historic.

He said what the team did would go a long way to touch millions of people, and that the Games would remain in the hearts of people for many years.

“Isaac Makwala, you will be history, even after you have left this world, it will be known that there was an athlete called Makwala.

To the team, we are very happy for what you have done for this country,” he said.

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Thapelo Olopeng said in an interview that their focus was to now prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, adding that he was cognizant that preparations would need a lot of resources, hence they had to start preparations now.

“We have taken the decision to always start preparations early, and you have just seen the results of early preparations from the Commonwealth Games,” he said.

Furthermore, Olopeng said Botswana had a solid team hence it was imperative to prepare for the coming competitions in earnest. He said the goal was to perform well at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He, however, said preparations and the environment would dictate the number of medals they would win at the Games.

Talking about injuries, he said they had a team of medical doctors around the athletes, adding that his ministry together with other stakeholders such as the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) and Botswana National Sports Commission would ensure that they attended to injury issues and dealt with them as quickly as possible.

Although the BNOC had set a target of eight medals, they managed to win five with three gold medals won by Amantle Montsho, Isaac Makwala and the 4x400 metres men’s relay team.

A silver medal, courtesy of 400 metres promising athlete, Baboloki Thebe and the 4x400 metres women’s relay team won bronze. ENDS