Jele qualifies for Rio 2016
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday April 12, 2016 11:43
Jele who booked her Rio ticket after crossing the line in 51:50 to beat the qualifying time of 51:52. She becomes the first female track athlete to qualify for Olympics.
Jele’s coach Justice Dipeba told Mmegi Sport yesterday that he was impressed by her performance.
He said the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has modified qualifying times across the board and that was an advantage. Dipeba said he had long realised that Jele was on the verge of making it to Rio due to her performance.
“She has been working hard and that was an indication that she was going to qualify. We went for a training camp in South Africa where we worked on her finishing technique, especially the last 100m. She put all that to use on Sunday and that worked wonders,” he said.
Dipeba said his plan is for Jele to train locally before she could leave for training in Europe.
He said since she had qualified, she might get invitations to attend competitions in Europe and that could disrupt her plans. Dipeba said he wanted Jele to compete at the Africa Senior Championships in Durban before moving abroad. The Africa meet is scheduled for June.
The Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president, Glody Dube said they intend to send the biggest team ever to the Olympics. He said four more athletes stood a good chance of qualifying. One of them is 800m runner, Boitumelo Masilo. “It is a good thing to see athletes qualifying because it is an indication that we are on the right track. We treat them equally even those who have not qualified because we know that they are also working hard to travel to Rio,” said Dube. Other athletes who have qualified are Nijel Amos (800m), Isaac Makwala (400m), Onkabetse ‘Tolly’ Nkobolo, Baboloki Thebe and swimmer, Naomi Ruele.