As the 2024 Olympics slowly draws to a conclusion, all eyes will on Team Botswana as their campaign commences today.
The team is looking forward to improving on their previous bronze medal win from the 2020 Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan.
First to take to the track is Oratile Nowe who competes in the women’s 800m event.
Nowe, a debutant at the Olympics will compete in heat 4 of the event at 1945hrs.
Having qualified via rankings, the 24-year-old will need to dig deep to reach the semifinals.
A top two finish in the heats will be enough to send her through, but first she will have to fight off fierce competition in round one.
In an interview, head coach Chilume Chippa Ntshwarang said the mood was high in the camp ahead of the commencement of track and field activities.
“We have settled well here since transitioning from our first camp to the athletes’ village. Everything was quite smooth and better than we anticipated. We had thought since the village is crowded, we won’t adjust quickly but the athletes are excited and fine. I think we have waited for far too long and now that the wait is over, we are ready. The athletes who start first have had really good quality sessions in the past days,” said Ntshwarang, confirming that the team is so far without any injuries.
On Saturday, Letsile Tebogo will make his debut in the 100m heats at the Olympics where the expectation is that he will continue with his impressive performances.
“Letsile has trained well, his sharpness is back, and he is ready to roll. Even in practice sessions, the athletes are always ahead of us; we just follow them. With regards to medals, I don’t want to put a target to it, we are here to compete, and we are going to put up a good fight because this team is ready to die for the country,” added Ntshwarang.
Recently, Choppies Enterprises announced cash incentives for the Olympics team, sparking varied views.
While some considered it a necessary motivation, detractors viewed it as a dangling of a carrot which has the capability to distract the athletes.
Gold medal winners will take home P1 million cash, and P2, 500 monthly groceries for a year while those who win silver will get P500, 000.
Athletes who get bronze medals will receive P250 000, with finalists getting themselves P25 000 each.
The men’s 4x400m relay team will share the prize money if they win any medal.
“We are not looking at the incentives back at home. The focus is on the task at hand which is to compete. We will deal with the rest later. But obviously since these are runners who can benefit back home from the incentives, first of all we should work hard and deliver the desired results. Then that’s when we can think of incentives. Sometimes when you think of incentives you end up losing focus, that’s why for now everything is all about competition,” explained Ntshwarang.
Other atheletes include Victor Ntweng in 400m hurdles, Leungo Scotch, Bayapo Ndori and Busang Kebinatshipi who will compete in 400m.
In the men’s 800m, Botswana is represented by Kethobogile Haingura, Tshepiso Masalela and Tumo Nkape.
