Injured Thebe cries of BNOC neglect
Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday March 15, 2017 15:51
Thebe, who ran the world’s leading time for this year in Francistown over the weekend, told Mmegi Sport yesterday that the BNOC has not been forthcoming with assistance.
Thebe said his coach, Mogomotsi Otsetswe took him to a physiotherapist at a local private practice and he goes there every fortnight. He said the BNOC does not assist and when Otsetswe requests for refunds, he is ignored.
“The therapist has revealed that my injury starts from my back and also that my legs are not of equal length hence I easily get injured. He is working on addressing the anomaly,” Thebe said.
When asked about his Rio 2016 physiotherapist, Clement Gaothuse who had pledged to assist Thebe and Nijel Amos with their injuries, the athlete said he last saw Gaothuse last year. Despite the niggling injury, Thebe set a 400m world lead of 44:89 in Francistown over the weekend.
He said he took part in the race to gauge his fitness as he has been out of action for sometime. He said the injury has been bothering him and it was only this month that he felt better.
“The injury has been making training difficult. I would train for two weeks and it starts again and I would be forced to stop training. Last weekend I told my coach, Otsetswe, that I wanted to compete and he agreed,” he said.
Thebe said the injury has changed the way he has been running and his start off the blocks is slow.
He explained that he now takes off with his left foot instead of the right foot. He said in Francistown, he started slowly and only got comfortable during the course of the race.
Meanwhile, Thebe said he is not under pressure when it comes to competitions because he has long qualified for the IAAF World championships to be held in August in London.
He said preparations are underway for him to make his debut in the Diamond League.