Montsho's golden opportunity

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Friday August 3, 2012 00:00

 

Montsho's race is at 2:00 pm (local time). In today's heat, Montsho will battle it out with Shana Cox of Great Britain, Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, Christine Day of Jamaica, Afia Charles of Antigua and Barbuda, Ingrid Yahoska Narvaez of Nicaragua and Aliann Pompey of Guyana in the second heat of the race. Montsho starts in lane two and is expected to qualify for the semi finals with ease if the best times of her competitors are any yardstick. Montsho's best time is 49.54, while the closest rivals tomorrow is Day with 50.85. The heats are expected to start at 2:00 pm (12:00 pm local time) with Montsho's race expected to be eight minutes later.

Montsho is among the favourites to win a gold medal in her category following enormous achievements in the past few years. She is the current world, Commonwealth and African champion.   Retired athlete, Glody Dube became the first Botswana athlete to reach the final of the competition during Sydney 2000 Games in the men's 800 m but finished last in the final. Montsho also qualified for the final in Beijing eight years later but failed to win a medal. She said then that she was let down by the stage fright.

But that seems to be all in the past now having competed with some of the best in her category and eventually coming tops. The most memorable one would be when she beat American athlete, Allyson Felix at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu.Montsho has been improving over the years ever since the last Olympic Games in China. She made her Olympic debut in Greece at Athens 2004 as a wild card and failed to go beyond the heat stages.  At London 2012, Montsho faces a tough challenge ahead with Great Britain 's Chistine Ohuruogu having hit form at the right time.

The Briton beat Montsho recently in the run-up to this year's spectacular. At the 2011 World Championships, Ohuruogu was disqualified after a false start. Another threat may come from American athlete, Sanya Richards-Ross, who is the 2009 world champion. Richards-Ross finished seventh at the 2011 World Championships.