11 Nov 2026

Team Botswana’s medal-less campaign at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal has exposed a void in the nation’s athletic pipeline and this has sparked urgent calls from sports analysts to revive the country’s once-thriving school sports system before elite-level talent dries up.

When the team departed for Dakar, expectations were high that the young squad would salvage at least one or two medals. 

However, following the conclusion of their events on Monday, Botswana was missing from the final medal tally table. 

The results are a contrast to the country’s last successful Youth Olympics outing, which dates back a decade to the 2014 Nanjing Games where Baboloki Thebe secured a silver medal in the 200 metres final behind American Noah Lyles, while Karabo Sibanda claimed silver in the 400 metres behind Jamaica’s Martin Manley.

For the 2026 Games, Botswana sent a delegation of six athletes across three sporting codes. On the track, Mpho Maano competed in the 800 metres and Geza Reinious ran the 400 metres. 

Precious Masaba represented the country in boxing, while Theresa Tagarira competed in judo. Tema Modirelabangwe and Melodi Saleshando took to the pool in swimming.

While both Maano and Reinious showed promise by reaching the finals in their respective track events, the rest of the squad found the going tough. 

Masaba was knocked out in the quarterfinals, while judoka Tagarira narrowly missed out on a podium finish after losing her bronze medal match.

 Swimmers Modirelabangwe and Saleshando were both eliminated in the early heats. Prior to the team’s departure, Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) president, Tshepo Sitale said no official medal targets had been set because the team was young, adding that that the primary objective was for them to gain international exposure. 

However, Botlhale Koothopile of Sunday Standard newspaper, who had long monitored the country’s development teams, argued that the team’s performance boiled down to the ongoing absence of vibrant school sports.

Koothopile said school sports served as the core of grassroots development, helping sports authorities unearth raw talent before nurturing it through regular and age-based competitions. 

In the absence of school sports, he said the nation cannot fully guarantee that athletes sent to the Youth Olympics were the absolute best of their youth.

“This is not to dispute their talent, but rather to point out they may not be the top choice available and lack of regular competition means they simply have not tested themselves enough to be truly competition ready,” he explained.

He added that the medals won a decade ago by Thebe and Sibanda were a direct product of the once thriving school sports system.

The performance in Dakar, he said, was a warning to the country’s political and sports leadership, to bring back sports or watch Botswana sports regress. 

“We have to do something fast before the current generation of Letsile Tebogo and Collen Kebinatshipi fade. Otherwise, it will take us a few years before we see another world beater once they retire,” he said. ENDS