24 Jun 2024

Botswana’s 4x100m men’s relay team is on the verge of making a historic Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualification.

The quartet; long jumper, Thapelo Monaiwa, Mothusi Boitshwarelo, Tumo van Wyk and Letsile Tebogo powered to a new National Record of 38.18 to win their heat during the ongoing Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Doula, Cameroon.  

With the win, Botswana have displaced The Netherlands and are in a joint 15^th position with Brazil in the relay teams rankings and if the status quo remains until Sunday, they will be amongst other nations in Paris for the Olympics, which will take place from July 26 until August 11. 

For relay events, the 14 highest NOCs at the World Athletics Relays 2024 will qualify automatically for the Olympics with the remaining teams selected according to the World Athletics performance list for relays during the period of December 31, 2022 and June 30. 

In the other events, Botswana hurdlers on Sunday continued with their impressive performance as Victor Ntweng won a gold medal with 48.88 while his training Kemorena Tisang won silver with 49.24 in the 400m event. 

USA-based 400m athlete, Lee Eppie, also won a silver medal with a Personal Best 45.39, while Anthony Pesela, who was a medal prospect, finished in position six with a time of 46.17. In the 100m women final, Tsaone Sebele finished fifth with a time of 11.45. 

In the 800m men, Kethobogile Haingura delivered a silver medal with a time of 1:45.54, while in the women’s’ category, a medal eluded Oratile Nowe as she finished in fourth position with a time of 2:01.39. 

The team’s coach, Justice Dipeba, said he was happy that athletes delivered. 

“Generally, we are happy with all the medals we won on Sunday. Championships is a different space, and we are happy with Haingura’s performance; he went through the rounds and won a silver and that is what happens at the Olympics,” he said.

Also, he said Eppie showed maturity and character as he delivered a silver medal, as he was not in the final due to officials’ technical mistake.

“We had to approach the Technical Information Centre for clarity and the mistake was rectified. One would have thought that would demoralise him, but he soldiered on and delivered a medal,” he said. ENDS