12 Feb 2026

Imagine a track and field event without electronic timing; one wonders how officials would determine  the winner when athletes reach the finishing line at the same time and can only be separated by a photo finish.

This emphasises the importance of electronic timing in athletics, as it uses sensors to measure performance to the thousandth of a second.

With the traditional stopwatch, which was used from the inaugural modern Olympic Games in 1896 until 1960, it was very difficult for officials to separate closely finishing athletes.

As the world evolves, Botswana has not been left behind in adopting modern electronic timing. In fact, the system is also used at school sports competitions, as it gives athletes an opportunity to qualify for major competitions if they have clocked qualifying times.

Only electronically timed results are recognised as qualifying times, and after assessment, the performances can be ratified by the world athletics governing body.

According to World Athletics, world records are ratified through a strict process requiring verification of performance, equipment and athlete eligibility within 30 days of the event.

“A formal application, including photo finish images, doping control results and technical surveyor reports, must be submitted by the national federation to World Athletics,” it states.

Therefore, the arrival of a new Fully Automatic Timing (FAT) system from Timetronics of Belgium places Botswana among serious athletics nations in Africa in terms of accurately recording athletes’ performances.

According to Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) acting president, Oabona Theetso, the government purchased the machine at a cost of over P6 million.

He said their intention was to create a pool of trained electronic timers, adding that for years, it had been a top priority to train more officials.

Theetso said training more officials would enable BAA to host more events in different parts of the country.

He said with the arrival of the machine, they were currently training 26 officials, adding that he was happy that Timetronics had also sent Angus Campbell from South Africa, Kim Peteers from Belgium and John Chizu from Zambia to fully train the officials. 

“Athletics has grown. For our Series Two, which will be held in Francistown, we have over 700 entries. Imagine if we can even have different series running concurrently , one in the south and another in the northern part of the country,” he said.

He said with the arrival of the new machine and the training of more personnel, they were confident that they would be able to hold more events across the country.BOPA