Time to invest in our athletes

Mmegi Editor | Tuesday August 16, 2016 16:08

Alas!  Of course, four years ago at the London Olympics, Nijel Amos won silver, raising the nation’s expectations for greater glory at the Rio Olympics.

That was not to be, as at the start of our athletes’ participation at the on-going Olympics in Brazil, the nation’s hopes were dashed when Amos and fellow 800 metres participants, Boitumelo Masilo failed at the heat level. The 400 metres trio of Baboloki Thebe, Isaac Makwala and Karabo Sibanda re-ignited the hope when they qualified for the semifinals. But only 18-year old Sibanda went on to the finals, with experienced Makwala coming last in the semifinals and Thebe pulling out due to injury.

The three Batswana women contenders did not raise much hope as they also all fell at the first hurdle. This raises a question as to whether we are doing enough to nurture our talents or do we just enter such international events for presence only. Somehow it is beginning to feel like Botswana continues to mark her presence, and winning, as has happened with Amos and Amantle Montsho in the past, is just by stroke of luck, or individual talent with no plan in place by the powers that be to really nurture and grow the athletes.

If we were serious about caring for the welfare of our athletes, we would have ensured that Amos and Thebe did not participate in the Rio games, as they were carrying injuries. Besides it being costly, careers of athletes can come to an abrupt end for entering the race without having recovered fully from injury. We would like to urge the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) to ensure that we have a robust medical programme to assist in making sure our athletes only compete when they are in good shape.

One cannot ignore the poor finishing by our athletes. They would start off very fast ahead of competitors and fail to surge at the finishing line. This can be addressed by quality coaching. It is time we invest in quality trainers and facilities for our athletes.  The corporate sector needs to also come to the party. We applaud Choppies for offering up to P12million to the winners, but as it stands, only Sibanda stands to pocket P75,000 for making it to the finals. Realising our seven other athletes did not, maybe the retail giant can change the rules, and offer a portion of the monies towards preparing our athletes for the next Olympics and other major competitions. Interestingly, Amos’ Kenyan rival, Rudisha offered our 22-year old to train with him. It would be great to see Choppies and indeed other players sponsor such initiatives, build a high performance centre and expose our athletes’ conditions similar to those of other champion producing countries.

Today’s thought

“It’s not the will to win that matters everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare

to win that matters.”

 

– Paul “Bear” Bryant