27 Sep 2022

Athletics team’s performance at international competitions has left a lot to be desired.

“We won at least three athletics gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, but could not muster even one this year. We had women at the World Championships in Doha but didn’t have any in Oregon. 

I can go on and on,” said the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare, at the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) victory celebration in Gaborone on September 26.

Furthermore, Rakgare said Botswana was recording an unprecedented number of doping cases, adding there had never been more than one case in a year, but this year,  the country had already registered two cases.

“What is it that we are not doing to achieve our target. Are you doing enough education as well as intelligence gathering? Whatever the case, the situation cannot be left to go unabated,” he said.

Rakgare said there were also a few acts of indiscipline by some athletes and officials.

Such acts, he said, threatened to bring sport into disrepute and turn sponsors away, adding BAA’s inaction suggested it was condoning indiscipline.

“At this rate, you are forcing us to now intervene and risk being accused of interfering with the affairs of the sport,” he said.

The minister said despite regressing in performance, there were notable achievements such as the 22^nd Africa Senior Championships where Botswana won four titles, including setting a continental record in the men’s 200m by Letsile Tebogo.

He said the seven medals won at the championships resulted in Botswana finishing in the sixth position behind continental powerhouses Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria and Ethiopia.

“While we continued with the medal drought at the World Athletics Championships since 2011, we could not help but celebrate Letsile Tebogo’s history making streak, as he registered a World U-20 Record of 9.94 seconds. 

We further reached two finals in the men’s 400 individual event and the 4x400m relay,” he said. 

He said Team Botswana also finished in position 13 out of 145 participating nations at the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia.

He said Tebogo was one of the star performers for Team Botswana at the competition, setting a new world youth record in the 100m.

“As if that was not enough, Tebogo went to claim a joint championship record in the 200m event with a time of 19.96, earning Botswana a silver medal,” he said.

The minister congratulated the mixed relay team for reaching the final on its maiden appearance, adding the men’s 4 x400m relay team that clinched a silver medal in Birmingham also needed recognition. Ends