03 May 2023

Botswana is well known for  producing some of the finest 400-metres runners in the world.

In fact every year there is a new name emerging, but the worrying factor is that at World Athletics Championships medals always eludes the county.

As Botswana is preparing for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Budapest in August, expectations will be high.

So far the country has qualified three 400-metre runners, Bayapo Ndori, Leugo Scotch, Collen Kebinatshipi being the latest to make the team.

The question is, will  the country which is known to be the 400-metre hub be reeedemed in this year’s edition, given that the  last time the country won an individual gold  medal at the World Championships was in 2011 in Dageu in a time of  49.56.

In an effort to establish what could be the problem BOPA cought up with Kiran James’ coach Harvey Glance, who has over time guided him to win medals at the World Championships and at the Olympics.

Glance  admitted that Botswana was one of the best countries in the world  when it came to 400 metres.

“USA has always had great 400-metre runners, but when you compare the two countries, Botswana is very close,” he said.

Glance said for a country to win a medal at a high level, ‘it takes a certain mentality,’ more especially when athletes are in a call room, they have to have a sense of belonging.

“It is always difficult in the call room to see eight athletes who have made it to the finals and there is only three medals up for grabs, but they have to understand that to be on the podium means a lot.

When Kiran he gets in the call room, he only looks people in the eyes and tells himself that ‘I belong’,” he said.

Glance therefore advised the country to invest much on the athletes mental strength where it matters most, adding that good athletes had lost medals because of failing to handle the pressure right  from the call room.

Senior lecturer in the Department of Sport Science at the University of Botswana. Dr Tshepang Tshube said Botswana needed to be intentional about ensuring that all athletes at club and national team levels were accorded mental or psychological skills training at a tender age.

He said there were fundamental skills that were needed in the call room and warm up area, adding that the first one was anxiety regulation.

“Athletes need to be taught properly how to regulate their anxiety, and be able to read their body to understand that when my body feels this way, it means I am anxious and what do I need to do to deal with it. For example being able to reflect on their past performances,” he said.

Dr Tshube said the other area is the ability to concentrate  and focus on relevant things, given that athletes at the warm up and call room area were interacting with athletes who were just as good as them, or who were even better than them.

In a space like that, he said athletes tended to analyse other athletes physique, adding that there were cases where athletes would praise the strength of their opponents.

According to Dr Tshube, that alone was a source of anxiety for some athletes who competed with those praised for his physique.

“It is therefore, very important that we focus on regulation as well as concentration, and when athletes are having a problem, they should tell themselves that they belong,” he said. ENDs