05 Jul 2022

World Athletics has awarded Botswana a gold status.

This followed the country’s successful hosting of Gaborone International Meet (GIM), which was given a bronze status.

Consequently, Botswana will now host an ‘A’ standard meet dubbed Botswana Golden Grand Prix.

The elevation means the country has joined Morocco and Kenya in the category of African countries that can host  major athletics events.

Morocco hosts Rabat Diamond League, Kenya Kip Keino Classic while Botswana will host the golden grand prix on April 29, 2023.

Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC), chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho, said in an interview that the development was in line with government’s Reset Agenda, Vision 2036 and the commission’s Vision 2026.

He said in terms of the Reset Agenda, hosting a gold level event would demonstrate to the world that, despite the size of the population and level of development, Botswana had the ability to deliver international standard events.

As for Vision 2036, he said the event would be one of the drivers of Pillar 1 on Sustainable Economic Development, adding Botswana desired to be a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) hub.

He said Botswana Golden Grand Prix would attract top athletes from around the world.

“It is common cause that we will see an influx of both domestic and international tourists into Gaborone,” Serufho added.

He said Botswana would benefit in many sectors such as hospitality, transport and the arts, adding the event would also go a long way in marketing and profiling the country in over 150 countries.

Furthermore, he said a perfect opportunity would be created for Botswana multinationals or even domestic companies that would want to expand outside Botswana.

With this development, he said government and BNSC were challenged to ensure that they find a long term solution to the issue of warm-up track.

Serufho said they had been engaging about a warm up track, but given that April 2023 was just around the corner, they would have to speed up the process.

“I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate Glody Dube, his board and other stakeholders, Botswana Athletics Association, for the admirable work that resulted in the GIM being promoted to skip silver and become gold after only having attained bronze in 2022,” he said. Ends