No fairy tale end for heroic Makwala
Staff Writer | Friday August 11, 2017 15:00
He had run a solo time trial on Wednesday night after ‘recovering’ from food poisoning to power into the semi finals, before he moved into the finals with a good run the same evening.
However, Makwala, who was a fan favourite after his ordeal, did not produce the ending that a good story always deserves when he finished sixth in 20.44 running in lane six.
There was no World Championships double for 400m world record holder, Wayde van Niekerk who agonisingly came close to the 200m gold, but was pipped on the line by unheralded Turkish, Ramil Guliyev who clocked 20.09.
Botswana’s interest now shifts to the relays starting tomorrow with the men’s 4x400m still in with a shouting chance although the UK, France, Bahamas, Jamaica and the US pose a regular challenge.
It has been a barren campaign for rising Botswana thus far although all pointed to at least a medal at the early stages of the competition.
It will now remain a case of ‘what if’ after Makwala was ruled out of the 400m final due to a ‘medical’ condition in hugely controversial circumstances.