14 Jun 2021

Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) hopes of betting on the Olympic wildcard entry into the Mountain Bike Cross Country (MTB XCO) discipline at the 2020 Olympic Games have not been successful.

BCA had selected Tsela Riders’ Bakang Ebudilwe for a possible Olympic wildcard entry and her hope of participating at the summer games were dashed following no vacant slots for the MTB quota after the official qualifications competition.

In 2018, Ebudilwe received the Olympic scholarship and was based at the World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Switzerland.

The scholarship was linked to qualification to Tokyo summer Olympics, however, due to the low accumulation of points by Botswana, the grant was withdrawn in 2018 and the athlete was sent back home.

Botswana’s Chef de Mission for Tokyo 2020, Tshepo Sitale, said in an interview that the international cycling body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) communicated through Botswana National Olympics Committee that all places for cycling were filled through official qualifications.

Sitale said the tripartite placement was not a right, but rather an opportunity to develop and give athletes equal chances.

He said Botswana sent upcoming athletes to the Olympics as part of development to give them a taste of the Olympics and for them to continue working hard.

Furthermore, Sitale noted that for Botswana, only the cycling code could not get a tripartite placement.

However, he indicated that the tripartite placement for other codes was ongoing with the deadline for qualifications scheduled for the end of this month.

“We are awaiting the outcome for weightlifting and taekwondo,” said Sitale.

For swimming, he said the athlete was on B-Standard qualification and explained that if the athlete did not improve to A-Standard qualification they would also await the Universal placement for swimming.

Responding to the decision on the tripartite place allocation, BCA public relations officer Game Mompe said although they respect the decision taken, they were disappointed. Mompe said the decision was a wake-up call for them as an association to work hard on official qualifications and attain the qualifying standard, rather than depending on wildcards.

Ebudilwe was put on special training with appropriate support from BNOC, which was meant to enhance her performance in the UCI accredited races as a build-up to the Olympic Games.

Therefore, with no allocation of the tripartite, BNOC will withdraw their support. Mompe thus said it was unfortunate that BCA did not have the funds to support the cyclist to continue with the special programme, as the funding was from BNOC.

Ebudilwe is currently on an Elite scholarship through BNSC and studying at Limkokwing University Botswana.

With Commonwealth Games approaching, Mompe said the association would set up a team of the best riders in all disciplines to develop their skills and performance by enrolling them in events and training camps. ENDS