Relay Team Delivers Another Gold Medal
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday August 23, 2021 16:00
The race was anchored by Collen Kebinatshipi who handed over the baton to Anthony Pesela. Oreeditse Masede took over in the third leg before Phenyo Majama dug deeper to sum it up. The victory wrapped up what has been a fantastic showing with Botswana winning a total of four medals (three gold and one silver) at the competitions. Letsile Tebogo was the first to lay down the red carpet with a gold medal on Thursday in the men’s 100m. Pesela then followed with another gold medal on Saturday in the men’s 400m race. Tebogo was back again on the track in the men’s 200m final where he finished in the second position to win the silver medal.
The team proved that Botswana still has a lot to offer in sprints. In the 400m final, Pesela proved that the country is still producing the next generation of quarter milers. He started the first 200m by staying in the middle of other competitors. Just when some thought he was out of medal contention, Pesela found an extra gear in the home straight to reach the finish line with a brilliant sub 45. In the process, he registered a championship record (CR) which also saw him qualify for the 2022 World Athletics Championships to be held in Oregon, United States of America. The 44.58 is the fourth fastest time ever in Botswana. The 200m had a strong competition which saw Tebogo digging deeper for the second position. He is always strong contender in 200m but after five races in a short space of time, it was tough for him in his last race.
All eyes were on the men’s 4x100m relay team. Unfortunately, the team was disqualified due to a false start. The national team coach, Chilume Ntshwarang told Sport Monitor that he was impressed by the performance of his athletes. “This has been a lesson. It means we should maximise on preparations when we attend such competitions. We regard ourselves as a developing nation but that is not how other countries view us.
They respect us as engineers of sprinters,” Ntshwarang said. He said Tebogo and Pesela went to the competition with a bit of experience. Tebogo was in Poland for the World Relays and Pesela was at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He said the other athletes did not have international exposure and hence the nerves kicked in. “When you are at this level, anxiety is too much, even if you could try to calm down as an athlete, it does not work. I spoke to the team before they stepped in the track. We should start giving our athletes more competitions on the international stage,” he said. Regarding Tebogo finishing second, Ntshwarang noted that he picked that the athlete was unhappy because he knows that 200m is his strength and it was only normal for him to react that way after being beaten to the gold medal.