15 Dec 2022

For a country to succeed in athletics, it needs to have solid support from government.

World Athletics representative, Robert Wagner, said in an interview that Botswana had always supported athletes, something that influenced good results in athletics.

“Take for instance, it is not a secret that your government is supporting Botswana Golden Grand Prix to be hosted in Gaborone next year, the security it has given this event is very encouraging,” he said.

Wagner, who is a liaison officer between World Athletics and Golden Grand Prix said government had gone all out to ensure a successful meet.

“To be honest I can confidently say Botswana is ready and the fact that they have covered a lot of areas in their preparations gives stability to the event. The local organising committee is doing a good job,” he added.

Furthermore, he said the fact that the sport ministry had availed an officer at the level of director to head the organising committee was indication that Botswana was in a mission to deliver a world class event.

He said permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Kitso Kemoen, had stated that they would announce their financial contribution to the event, something which was a welcome development.

“In other countries, they only know their budget on the last day and that alone makes things difficult for the event organisers to fully plan,” he said.

Wagner said he was confident that Botswana would in the near future win a lot of medals at the international stages, adding the success behind Jamaica was support from government.

He said he was happy that school sport would soon return, adding the success of Jamaica was that they had school competitions every weekend, and at the end of the year they would organise championships.

“Botswana had sent 15 athletes to the world juniors and managed to leave a mark. And athletics performance at the AUSC Region 5 Games in Lilongwe, Malawi is a clear indicator that Botswana has a great future in athletics,” he said. ENDs