Olopeng encourages athletes to emulate the Rio team
Correspondent | Wednesday December 7, 2016 14:40
Speaking at the team’s send-off ceremony held in Gaborone on Tuesday, Olopeng said he is positive that the team is highly motivated and is ready to take up any challenges.
He said members of team Botswana have repeatedly assured that they can excel at any competition. “Their performance at the Rio 2016 Olympics is a testimony of the team’s ability. I stand tall to affirm that they will do better at this year’s AUSC Region 5 Under 20 Youth Games,” Olopeng stated. Olopeng said achievements of team Botswana have inspired his Ministry to think of better ways of supporting sport, as well as to make it more rewarding to athletes. He went on to say that it is his dream to turn Botswana sport into a rewarding venture.
“One of my dreams is to turn Botswana into an athletics country, while investing and developing other sporting codes,” Olopeng said. He added: “This dream requires all our efforts to make it pass. The realisation of this dream requires the private sector participation, so my doors are wide open to any company that want to partner with us on this project”. The government will spend P6.9 million to fund team Botswana’s participation in Luanda. “To facilitate easier transfer to Luanda, Government also chartered an aircraft with a sitting capacity of 126 people from Air Botswana. This flight would reduce travelling time and cost between Gaborone and Luanda,” he said.
Olopeng further urged the athletes to stay away from doping. “You should not engage in anything that may jeopardise your participation. Do not use any performance- enhancing substances because they have severe consequences in both your health and career,” Olopeng said.
The team consists of 61 athletes from athletics, athletics for the visually impaired, swimming, tennis, and netball. It is the athletics team that dished splendid performances at the previous games that were held in Zimbabwe in 2014 as they brought home 19 medals. “Our target is to surpass the number of medals (19) that we brought home in the last edition. My team is well prepared and much better as compared to that of 2014,” said athletics team manager, Olebogeng Oitebetse.
The team chief de mission, Gable Garenamotse said he is not concerned with the numbers on his team as initially they were supposed to travel with 171 athletes instead of 61. “I do not think that numbers matter, one ought to understand that Angola is expensive especially considering the fact that this time we are using a flight as opposed to buses unlike on previous competitions,” he said.