Botlogetswe sees new dawn in blossoming career
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday June 29, 2018 14:37
After winning a silver medal in the 4x400m at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April, Botlogetswe is making her mark at the ongoing World Challenge Meet in Europe.
She demonstrated her intention when she recently clocked 50:89 during the Geneva Meet to finish in pole position.
Botlogetswe finished second during the 2018 World Challenge Meet held in Hengelo, Netherlands in a time of 51:00. She registered her new Personal Best’s (PBs) during the two races.
Botlogetswe told Mmegi Sport that getting new PBs is a huge achievement and she has decided that it is a new dawn and time for new things.
The Rakops native developed interest in athletics at a young age.
“I had a short stint in volleyball but I shifted my focus to athletics. My teachers at Nicodemus Memorial Primary School paved the athletics path for me. Ever since then, I have not looked back. I continued running at Rakops Junior Secondary School and Letlhakane Secondary School,” the 22-year-old said.
Botlogetswe said her family was supportive and encouraged her to follow her passion.
She said during her school days, she was a gold medallist in the Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) and Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa
(COSSASA) Games.
In 2011, she represented Botswana at the African Junior Championship held in Gaborone and the World Youth Champions in France. The following year, she was in Spain for the World Junior Championship.
“I started working with Justice Dipeba as my coach in 2015. He always motivates me and before any race he tells me to go out there and have fun,” she said.
The first contest she competed under Dipeba, was the African Games in Congo where she brought home a silver medal as part of the 4x400m relay team. She then competed at the IAAF World relays that were hosted in The Bahamas.
Regarding the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Botlogetswe said she had decided that she had trained as much as she could and the only thing she had to do was to stick to the plan.
“I told myself that the worst had passed. All I had to do was to focus. Fortunately, I kept my head up and roared to the finish line. I also had the support of my team-mate and captain, Amantle Montsho. She is a good person and always tells me to believe in myself,”
Botlogetswe said.
She has been having a good run since the beginning of the season.
During the Commonwealth Games, she finished in position four, missing out on a medal by a whisker, but set her PB of 51.17.
She was part of the women’s 4x400m team that scooped a silver medal setting a new national record of 3:26:86.
She is the second fastest woman in 400m in the country and the third fastest in Africa.