06 May 2024

Batswana across the country braved a chilly early Monday morning to join the rest of the world to watch the 4x400m men’s relay team competing in the finals in Nassau, The Bahamas.Botswana was competing with the 4x400m super powers including South Africa, Belgium, Japan, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, and Nigeria in the finals. At the end of the race, it was Botswana who hit the finish line first with a World Leading time of 2:59.11 opening yet another debate as to whether America’s World Record time of 2:54.29 is in danger. National athletics coach, Justice Dipeba said in an interview that he was happy that the team managed to attain its set objectives of qualifying for the Olympics and winning a medal. “We did exactly that, although our aim was podium finish without mentioning what colour of a medal we want. I am happy we won the highest medal. As you might be aware this is the only medal that has been missing in our cabinet since we won silver, and bronze in past editions,” he said. Noting that it was not easy to win gold, Dipeba attributed the win to the team’s hard work, commitment and resilience. He acknowledged that there was too much pressure for Botswana to deliver given that the world had confidence on the team. He said the team was focused, adding ‘and you could tell in our meeting as we were discussing the final day; you could see that the approach was different’ Dipeba said the relay team members were still young and had more years to show the world what they were capable of. Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president Oabona Theetso said as a federation they were happy that they finally won the gold, which was missing in their medal collection. “This is an improvement from our previous performances. For that we are very thankful to the coaching department, and the athletes for fighting until the last day and win the medal,” he said. “Young as they are, they have shown a lot of maturity. It has taken us a lot of years to be where we are today in terms of winning a gold medal at the highest level,” he said. ENDS.