05 Aug 2021

After heroically representing Botswana in many international races and bringing home more than a dozen medals, beloved 400 metres track and field star Isaac Makwala yesterday ran his last Olympics.

The Tutume-born athlete showed a lot of determination during the race, but his younger competitors’ nimble feet proved too fast for him. When they reached the finishing line, he was seventh.

This was a bittersweet moment for Makwala as this was his first time to reach the final stage of the Olympic Games and also his last Olympic race.

“ Final tonite (thanks to the almighty God). My first Olympic final and it’s my last Olympics. I am so excited. I am going to do my best here”

Track and field analyst, Omogolo Ramoroba said Makwala made his usual quick start over the first 200 metres closing up on Liemarvin Bonevacia of The Netherlands in lane three while Kiran James of Grenada ran for his life from the blocks closing up on Anthony Zambrano of Colombia, who always start off his race very slow and comes up in the second half of the race.

He said as the race progressed with 70 metres to go, Makwala was unable to maintain his sprint as he looked to have ran out of steam.

“But I think Makwala applied his race tactics well. It is only that he was up against strong contenders. At his age and being able to keep up at this level, that on its own should be appreciated,” he said.

He added that Makwala, who made his Olympic Games debut in London in 2012 and ran a non-qualifying time of 45.67 in the heats, had worked hard during his entire athletics career.

That he said was shown by the fact that ‘he didn’t despair as he came again in Rio 2016 Olympics where he successfully made it to the semi-final and unfortunately his 46.60 was not good enough to take him through to the final,” he said.

Meanwhile, paying tribute to Makwala former Botswana Athletics Association secretary, Patrick Moesi said he was happy with Makwala’s performance despite him missing the podium.

He said Makwala had always given his best for Botswana adding that he did his best during the final. He added that Makwala was an inspiration to both the young and old.

Moesi said the level of discipline that he had displayed had insured that he made it to the Olympics final.

Furthermore, he said he had wished that Makwala would participate in the Paris Olympics Games to be held in 2024.

“But even if he doesn’t make it, he has given us great memories, he has served the country with distinction as well as being a great brand ambassador. It is not quite often that we get athletes with such resilience and staying power like Makwala,” he said.

Makwala’s many achievements include a gold and silver at the All Africa Games, three African championships gold medals and three African Championships silver medals. He has twice been a finalist at the World Championships and winner of the Diamond League meeting. Ends