Carlos Kambaekwa
14 April 2008
Windhoek — It's signed, sealed and delivered - Namibia's long distance queen Beata Naigambo has finally booked her ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics later this year, amidst months of speculation over her qualification.
The veteran athlete carved herself a place amongst the Namibian contingent with a bronze medal at a recent International Marathon competition in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Naigambo clocked a time of 2 hours 33 minutes and 17 seconds (2:33:17), which gives her an "A" qualification for the summer Olympics. She now joins fellow compatriot Hilaria Johannes after the lanky marathoner set up a time of 2 hours, 33,06 seconds in Seoul earlier this year. There had been uncertainty over Naigambo's entry after she ran a "B" qualification time at the South African Championships in Durban earlier this year. Namibia's veteran middle distance runner Agnes Samaria and long jumper Stephan Louw are the other hopefuls in the athletics discipline. The pair is expected to join Naigambo and Johannes as Namibia's only representatives in the athletics discipline and will try their luck at the African Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the end of this month.
Samaria already qualified for the summer Olympics last year, but the National Olympic Committee would have none of that and ordered the veteran athlete to prove her mettle once again this year as they would like to have another look at her performance.
Athletics bosses strongly believe and justifiably so, that the time frame leading to the actual commencement of the Games is far too long for athletes to be measured on last year's performance.
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