The coaches faced a backlash from supporters for changing the line-up in the final of the relay, which saw Tebogo Letsile anchoring. Some supporters felt that the team could have won a gold medal, only if he kept the same line-up from the semi-final heats. However, Ntshwarang explained that they (technical team) can pick the same relay line-up again anytime. Ntshwarang told SportMonitor that this was the greatest 4x400m relay the world has ever seen and he is very proud of them. “We have amazing potential; we can only get better. We are ready to take on the rest of the world,” he said. The team powered to 2:54.53, which is a new African Record (AR) on Saturday evening. For the first in history, Botswana has won two medals in a single edition of Olympic Games. The relay silver medal is an addition to gold medal that was won by Letsile Tebogo in the men’s 200m race.
The last time Botswana set an AR was in 2021 where they registered 2:577.02. The silver medal is a promotion from the bronze medal that they won at the Tokyo 2020. The gold medal went to United States of America (USA), setting a new Olympic Record (OR) of 2:54.43. Great Britain settled for bronze, also setting a European Record of 2:55.83. The quartet proved that they were the fastest ever to be assembled by this country, with Tebogo (anchor) split of 43.03 joining the top 10 all time list. The list includes American retired sprinter and Olympic 400m record holder, Michael Johnson, who produced a split of 42.94 in the 4x400m relay. Other relay team members also exploded from the blocks to register fast splits, Bayapo Ndori (44.30) in first leg, Collen Kebinatshipi (43.40) in second leg and Anthony Pesela (43.03) in third leg.
