29 Jul 2021

 It was in 2012 at the London Olympics when Nijel Amos shot to prominence.
 

No one knew Botswana had a secret weapon in Amos. He became the talk of the town when he won the country’s first Olympic medal.

The then 18-year-old Marobela born athlete was fresh from the World Junior Championships where he won a gold medal ahead of Kenya’s Timothy Kitum and Edwin Kipalagat, who settled for silver and bronze respectively.

Although no one gave him a chance, he fought like a wounded lion to reach the Olympic finals.

At the finals, Amos was up against veterans, amongst them Kenya’s David Rudisha and Kitum, USA’s Duane Solomon, Nick Symmonds, Ethiopian Mohammed Aman, Sudanese Abubaker Kaki and Andrew Osagie of Great Britain.

The teenager shocked the world by finishing on second position after Rudisha with a time of 1:41.73.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, Amos failed to make it to the finals.

Now the celebrated 800m runner would be back on track at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.

He would be carrying Botswana’s hope for a second second Olympic medal.

The question on many people’s minds is ‘can he make it’ and his personal coach, Mark Rowland is cautiously optimistic.

He said in an interview that they had prepared well under the circumstances, adding that they had been patient and extra cautious since Amos had suffered injuries in the past.

Rowlands, who is also Oregon Track Club Elite head coach, said not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, with it being the Olympics year, prevented them from racing early in the season.

He also said with the COVID-19 pandemic and the timetable of events that were available, the timing was never right, so they prepared for Monaco as their platform for the Olympics.   

Rowlands said they were nervous going into a high profile race with a quality field, but the race was required and fortunately, everything went as expected.

He, however, said it was important to understand that all the athletes were preparing at different periods, with some having to run trials, so they anticipate that everyone would enter the Olympic track in peak condition.

Rowlands said they prepared the best they could and hoped that the training and Amos’ mental execution was at best, when it mattered, starting tomorrow.

The coach said if Amos would remain calm and apply himself, he would do well.

“At the end of it all, I am very grateful to the Botswana team for assisting me to be with Amos at this crucial stage,” he said. ENDS