06 Aug 2026

Stakeholders in sport development have been urged to protect local talent, invest heavily in its future and aggressively strengthen the foundational systems that support high-performance excellence.

Speaking at the official welcoming ceremony of the Team Botswana following participation at the 2026 Commonwealth Games on Tuesday in Gaborone, Speaker of the National Assembly, Dithapelo Keorapetse said champions were defined by how they respond to setbacks

Despite traveling to Glasgow, Scotland with high expectations and an ambitious target of seven medals, Team Botswana returned home empty handed, without achieving a single podium finish.

Keorapetse urged the nation to stand firmly behind the athletes, reminding citizens that true sporting nations did not abandon their competitors when results fall short of expectations.

“As the nation reflects on Team Botswana’s performance, they should not focus only on the medal table, but rather recognise the broader progress taking place across the sporting landscape,” said Keorapetse.
In that regard, he said government remained fully committed to supporting sport as a national priority.

Additionally, he said government recognised that investment in high-performance sport was not merely expenditure but a strategic investment in youth empowerment, national pride, public health, economic opportunity and social cohesion.

Keorapetse emphasised that qualifying for a global showpiece featuring 74 nations was an extraordinary feat requiring immense sacrifice, discipline and determination.

Keorapetse said the games demonstrated that Botswana continued to expand into new sporting frontiers.

“We witnessed athletes reaching global finals across different sporting codes. We celebrated historic breakthroughs in Commonwealth sports where Botswana has never before reached such levels of competition.

These achievements confirm that our sporting ecosystem is becoming more diverse, more competitive and increasingly resilient,” he said. Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) president, Tshepo Sitale said sport was one of the most powerful sectors capable of positioning a small country like Botswana on the global map.

He said sustained international competitiveness demanded modern sports science, meticulous planning and robust financial resources.

Furthermore, Sitale noted critical structural vulnerability in the domestic athletic framework, indicating that while successful global sporting nations employ full-time coaches, administrators, and support staff, Botswana’s ecosystem remained heavily reliant on volunteers.

To bridge this gap, Sitale said there was a need for immediate transformation of the national sports architecture to professionalise, support personnel and ensure consistent elite performance. ENDS