Dream smashed as star left out of Olympics team

Calistus Kolantsho | Friday September 28, 2018 13:02

Olesitse recently stunned the world when he won a gold medal in the 400m during the 2018 International School Sport Federation (ISSF) Championship held in Morocco. The Form Three student at Chichi Junior Secondary School in Molapowabojang clocked 47:54, which is his Personal Best (PB). He was crowned the Junior Sports Person of the Year at the National Sport Awards held in Gaborone a fortnight ago.

Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho said the athlete was left out due to school commitments. He said Olesitse was scheduled to finish his competition on October 14, just a day before he is due to sit for his Junior Certificate examinations.

“Even before the 15th, there is an Art exam that he must do. The Ministry of Basic Education have decided that it is better for the athlete to focus on his examination as opposed to juggle them (examination) with competing at the Youth Games,” he said. Serufho said the Ministry of Basic Education have pronounced that they would have not granted him leave. He said they remain optimistic that there might be changes. He argued that athletes, where possible should be given the opportunity to juggle both academics and sport.

“There should be supported both ways to ensure that none of the two suffer,” he said.Serufho said after the All Africa Games (AAG), they kick started the process of getting athletes released from schools. He said the process also included arrangements of having athletes write examinations elsewhere. Serufho said Olesitse’s replacement is not guaranteed. “The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have a universal programme, where they are saying each country should be represented by

one athlete. We had five athletes that won us medals at the AAG and they could have all qualified for the Youth Olympics,” he said. Serufho said since there was many African countries that failed to qualify for Youth Olympics in Algiers, the IOC and IAAF took away what they were entitled to reallocate to other countries.

“In the end, we were left with only Olesitse. He remains the only athlete that has qualified. As it stands, he might not travel, BNOC has appealed to the IOC,” Serufho said. “We reminded them that we could have had more athletes qualifying and they took that away from us. We want them to use that same spirit of universality, they should ensure that Botswana has representation.”

He said they have looked at the athletes from AAG and ranked them with the hope that they would take the best. Serufho said they were hoping to get a response from the IOC yesterday. He said they have a counsellor who has been assigned to provide services to the omitted athlete.

According to information reaching Mmegi Sport, the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) did not have problems with Olesitse sitting for examinations while in Buenos Aires. “Olesitse is an average student and athletics is his future. What has happened is going to frustrate him and affect his school performance,” a source said.

Botswana Athletics Association president, Thari Mooketsi said the matter does not bother them as they saw it coming.

“I have said before that we could not exclude Ministry of Basic Education when dealing with issues of students. At the Sport Pitso, I asked where the ministry was and I was told that they were not invited,” he said.

Mooketsi said there is gap between the Ministry of Basic Education and Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development. “When I talk about these issues, batho ba tsaya gore ke a tlhola. I have long seen where this was going. All along, athletes were

travelling because of the love head teachers had for sport and were ready to take responsibility. What has happened is a wake up call. We are not a team, instead, we work based on who is the boss. Consultation is done with those that sing the same tune with leadership,” he said. Mooketsi said the two ministries were not united. He said with the opportunity, Olesitse is going to miss out a lot, including on scholarships.