Rio Team Botswana count losses
Source : Kutlwano
Author : Anastacia Sibanda
Location : Gaborone
Event : Sports feature
While it is no secret that when Team Botswana embarked on the road to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the target was to clinch at least two medals, what was and still remains the Botswana National Olympic Committee`s best kept secret is that the two medals were expected from the track team.
It does not take rocket science to come to that conclusion given the fact that of all the twelve athletes that made Team Botswana to Rio, only the nine from track qualified on their own while the one judoka and the two swimmers made the team courtesy of the Universality or wild card arrangement.
In world sport, it is very uncommon for sportspersons who have entered competitions through the wild card arrangement to end up in medal positions, and therefore, it would have been unrealistic for Botswana to have expected a medal from any of the three wildcard entrants.
On the other hand, the track members of Team Botswana had the wherewithal to bring home medals.
Among others, the team boasted silver medalist from the previous Olympic Games and joint third all-time 800m runner Nijel Amos, one of the leading athletes in 2016 Diamond League and seventh best all time 400m runner Isaac Makwala, two of the leading Under 20 athletes in 400m, Baboloki Thebe and Karabo Sibanda. With its composition, Botswana Men`s 4 x 400m relay team was one of the teams to beat at the Olympic Games.
Unfortunately for team Botswana, while the athletes got very close to making history by amassing more medals than they ever did in the past, luck was not on their side.
The 2012 London Olympics hero Amos wilted in the first round, perhaps something to be expected given his performance in the two years leading to Rio.
While Makwala improved on his London 2012 performance by progressing to the second round, his legs were not light enough to carry him to the third round.
On the other hand the two youngsters, Thebe and Sibanda made it past the first round, and in case of the latter, all the way to the finals where he finished in a respectable fifth position, beating some of the top names in the men`s 400m event.
Unfortunately for Thebe, fate had other ideas as the recurrence of a past injury put-paid his and the nation`s dream of a first 400m Olympic medal.
When all the individual events were done, the countries hopes were pinned on the men`s 4 x 400m relay. The Team made it past the preliminaries and in the finals, up to the last 70 meters has poised to win the country her first ever Olympic medal in the relays.
Gallant as the performance was, four other teams proved that they were stronger than Team Botswana. In the end, team Botswana returned home with no medal, but not with tails between the legs.
They had failed to win medals but had some very noteworthy achievements, amongst which were the setting of two National Records in the Men`s 4 x 400m relay, the most number of athletes to progress past the first round at any Olympic Games.
The elevation of Thebe and Sibanda to number one and two in the world in the 400m event for men under the age of 20 and also their elevation to number five and 7seven respectively in the men`s senior 400m top list for 2016.
Prior to leaving for Rio, the team had already made history in some areas that included the biggest number of athletes from Botswana to qualify for an Olympic Games as well as a growth in the number of women that have ever qualified for a single Olympic Games.
The big question is ‘What could have gone wrong with team Botswana`, however Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) Chief Executive Officer Tuelo Serufho, said there were multiple causes, some of which can be avoided in future.
“The key cause was injuries sustained by some of the top athletes in the Team. Baboloki`s injury no doubt scuttled our plans and was a big upset for the team.
If he was fit and part of the relay team, we would not only have won a relay medal, but possibly have beaten the Americans to first position,” he says Serufho.
He further said that unbeknownst to Batswana, the plan for the athletics Coach was for Baboloki to have gone for the Olympic record in the finals of the men`s 400m, and at the very least, win Botswana her medal in that event.
“Nijel`s injury also contributed to our inability to win medals in Rio. His talent is not in doubt and when in tiptop condition, he has the ability to beat any 800m runner in the world,” adds Serufho
Serufho states that another thing that worked against team Botswana was the fact that in the months leading up to Games, there were many people involved in the management of athletes, and in some instances, the goals of such people were not aligned.
“There are instances where, because of the multiple stakeholders, athletes took part in either far too many competitions ahead of the Olympic Games and/or also in wrongly timed events.
Some of the injuries were as a consequence of either over competition or wrongly timed events”, says Serufho.
Another area he identifies was that more so for track and field athletes, it would seem they perform better when they train at home than when they are attached to high performance centers abroad.
Serufho gives examples that Nijel Amos achieved the great feat in 2012 when he trained at home, with local coach Mogomotsi Otsetswe. Equally, Isaac Makwala only reached his peak in the last one to two years, after moving back home to working with local Coach Justice Dipeba.
“There are many example to back this assertion, dating many years including during eras of athletes like Justice Dipeba, Glody Dube and Obakeng Ngwigwa. For the latter for example, his best performance until retirement was a bronze medal at the World Youth Championships in 2004,” he says.
Furthermore, Serufho says while he subsequently earned a scholarship to train and attend college in the United States of America and performed generally well, he was never able to do better than the 2004 feat, which he achieved while training in Botswana under the tutelage of a local coach.
Regarding how they are dealing or intend to deal with these and other issues, Serufho says injuries have been attended to, adding that “Both Baboloki and Nijel received treatment at a top facility in Italy and from local specialists.
He said the duo are now fit and back to training, while other athletes who had minor injuries have been attended to by local specialists and have also started training.
On training locations for athletes, Serufho says discussions are ongoing, and that at the end of it all, each case would be treated on its merit and athletes interest, even beyond sport would be taken into account”.
However, with challenges seemingly being addressed, especially injuries that were the main cause of team Botswana`s failure to win medals in Rio, Batswana can look forward with great optimism to the 2017 World Athletics Championships that will take place in London in August.
The World Championships attract the same caliber of athletes as the Olympic Games, and with the London edition occurring one year after the Rio Olympic Games, it can be expected that the line ups would essentially be the same, giving Nijel, Makwala, Thebe and Sibanda the opportunity to prove their mettle and redeem themselves.
