22 Sep 2026

At three, Lame Thomba cried when her uncle first introduced her to the water. 

Nine years later, she stood on a podium on home soil, collecting medals at the Africa Aquatics Zone IV Swimming Championships in Gaborone.

The water has long since stopped being a place of tears. Today, the 12-year-old is a rising force in African youth swimming, fresh off a dominant performance where she secured nine medals, which include four gold, four silver and one bronze, alongside a record-breaking swim in the 400m freestyle.

For Lame, the achievement reflects a remarkable transformation. Her uncle, who introduced her to the sport primarily for water safety, had to persist through plenty of early hesitation. 

“He was like, ‘You’re gonna do it, you are going to swim,’” she recalls.

Competitive swimming was never part of the original blueprint for her parents, Sally Thomba and Nchidzi Smarts. 

They simply wanted their daughter comfortable in the water. But as her abilities grew, so did her ambition.

Born in Francistown on August 23, 2014, Lame began training through local opportunities before joining the DMSS Gators Swimming Club. 

Because of limited aquatic facilities in Francistown, her family routinely brought her to Gaborone during school holidays just to keep her training on track. 

By the age of nine, she realised that swimming was more than a hobby, but a calling.

The realisation unlocked a new competitive hunger. Her latest haul is a huge leap from her debut at the Africa Aquatics Championships last year, where she claimed a silver in a relay event. This time, she dominated the individual freestyle events. 

“I’m a very good freestyler,” she notes.

Behind the medals is a focused athlete. Before a race, Lame meditates to mentally structure her approach. 

While she still battles pre-race nerves, she has learned a vital rule that relaxation creates speed. “The more relaxed you are, the faster you go,” she says.

She also refuses to be intimidated by faster competitors, viewing tough opposition as fuel rather than a threat. 

Asked which professional swimmer she looks up to, Lame offers a characteristically confident answer and says “Myself.”

Her parents have watched that self-assurance blossom. Though they initially hesitated over travel opportunities to South Africa, the family has embraced the journey, logging countless miles between Francistown and Gaborone to support her dream.

Lame’s ambitions now stretch far beyond the local pool. With her sights set on the World Aquatics stage, she views global competition as a stepping stone. 

“Then I can see the real competition so that after that I can mentally and physically prepare for the Olympics,” she says.

The girl who once wept at the edge of the pool is gone. In her place is a poised young champion, planning her races, welcoming fierce competition and looking resolutely towards the world stage. ENDS