24 Jul 2024

Team Botswana is prepared to leave nothing to chance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which starts tomorrow until August 11.

Having sent a team of 14 athletes to compete in Paris Olympics, Botswana sports bodies decided to send three athletics coaches to help with athletics team, which has 12 athletes.  

The team’s head coach is Chilume Ntshwarang, who will be assisted by Kebonyemodisa Mosimanyane while Justice Dipeba will be responsible for the relay team. 

Team Botswana manager, who is also the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president, Oabona Theetso, said although Dipeba would be focusing on the relays, he would also be assisting the two coaches looking at his vast experience. 

He said they were confident that Dipeba’s experience as an athlete and coach would help the country achieve its mission of winning medals at this year’s edition. 

Patrick Moesi, who once travelled with the team in the past as a manager, said the decision to have three coaches in Paris was consistent with international best practices. 

In some countries, he said personal coaches were made part of the national team to ensure continuity, as athletes would not be compelled to adjust to new coaches during competitions. 

“The Botswana National Olympic Committee and the BAA should be commended for this initiative, as many slots should be dedicated to technical people to ensure that athletes derive the best assistance possible to perform,” he said. 

Furthermore, Moesi said the three coaches were tried and tested and their combination should yield positive results. 

He said the coaches had presided over Botswana’s best performances at major competitions, and he was confident that having them at the Olympics was a commendable move.

 “The BAA has appointed arguably our best coaches and to have all of them at the same event gives us great hope,” he said. 

He, however, said in as much as they appreciated the appointment of three coaches, more could have been done to cater for the four 800m runners in Paris.

He said a coach should have been appointed to help them or better still roped in the quartet’s personal coach.

 “Today’s high performance support is a sophisticated team effort and all factors need to be satisfied to ensure that an athlete performs optimally,” he said. ENDS