13 Aug 2024

The 2024 Paris Olympics will forever be engraved in the hearts of Batswana as the turning point for the country’s sport. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, Botswana national anthem was sang and the flag hoisted, courtesy of sprinter Letsile Tebogo, who won a gold medal in the 200m with an African Record of 19.46 seconds. Tebogo’s feat was not only sweet to Batswana but for the rest of Africa, as he was the first African man to win gold at the Olympics in 200m, beating the 'race favourite' Noah Lyles who finished in third position. As if that was not enough the country’s 4x400m men’s relay team also won the second relay medal for Botswana, this time a silver with an African Record of 2.54.53, thanks to the quartet of Bayapo Ndori, Collen Kebinatshipi, Anthony Pesela and Tebogo who out did themselves in the final. Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) expressed happiness with the two medals won at the Olympics. BAA vice president Oabona Theetso, who was part of the team in Paris, said they had sent a young team. “We left a mark everywhere, which I believe the world will look at it and appreciate that Botswana indeed participated at the Paris Olympics,” he said. He said winning a gold medal was very special for the country and continent, adding that even the furture for relay team looked brighter for the 2028 Olympics. He said they had improved the colour of the medal Botswana won in Tokyo 2020 where they got a bronze medal. “We need to appreciate the coaches, because most of the time when we do analyses we only look at athlete’s performance, but we forget the people behind the success of the athletes,” he said. Besides winning medals, he said there were some other positives, as the 800m runner Oratile Nowe, although she did not advance to the semi final, showed a lot of improvement from the heat to the repechage. He said the 800m men runner Tshepiso Masalela did well and proceeded to the final where he finished in position seven with a Personal Best time of 1:42.82. “Kethobogile Haingura was making his Olympic debut and made it to the semifinals, while Tumo Nkape did not proceed to the semis, all that we will take it home, I think the athletes had a good exposure,” he said. Theetso said the 400m men also expressed themselves fully, adding that Kebinatshipi clocked Personal Best times, both in the heat and semi-final. That alone, he said, showed a lot of improvement on his side, and the future looks bright for him and his coach. On the 400m hurdles, he said Victor Ntweng gained a lot of experience, displayed a lot of hunger. Meanwhile, he said BAA had sent a team to compete at the World Athletics Junior Champions in Lima, Peru, which currently needed more financial assistance. “This is the very same team that we will be using at the coming Olympics, therefore we also need to give that young team support,” he said. BOPA