6 August 2008
editorial
Olympics. The greatest multi-sports event is set to officially open in the Chinese capital, Beijing on Friday. No doubt, the world's biggest sports fiesta is being awaited with baited breath.
Even in our little corner of the world, we expect our athletes to excel and defy sceptics.
We urge our 12-member team to represent the country well and avoid temptations that usually come with the pressure to win at big games. They should avoid falling into the trap of using banned performance-enhancing substances.
We believe the men and women chosen to represent Botswana at the games will be good ambassadors. The athletes, swimmers, boxers and the accompanying officials will do their best to make us proud.
This is despite the fact that the preparations we had for the games were not the best. Early in the year, Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) nearly had a showdown with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture because of the delay in disbursing funds for preparations.
Although Botswana athletes have not won a medal in the history of the Olympics, we are hopeful this is time of making history, especially with our boxers. In Khumiso Ikgopoleng (54kg) and Thato Batshegi (57kg), we have high hopes of a medal in boxing. Our athletes have also proved that they can compete with the best as exemplified by Glody Dube who became the first Motswana to reach an Olympic final in 2000. There is no reason why our athletes cannot bring a medal from Beijing. A piece of very good news is that the Botswana team has female competitors for the first time in Amantle Montsho (400m) and Samantha Paxisons (swimming). Some of the male athletes in the Beijing-bound team like Gable Garenamotse (long jump), Kabelo Kgosiemang (high jump) and California Molefe (400m) have performed with distinction in prestigious events, while Bashingili Ndabili (marathon), Fanuel Kenosi (400m), Gakologelwang Masheto (400m) and Onalenna Baloyi (800m) are talented runners.
Meanwhile, we congratulate China for partly sponsoring the Botswana Olympics team. China used to be a closed society, but it is now opening up to the international community. Apart from the Tibet debacle and health concerns as a result of pollution, we have no doubt China will stage a successful Olympic.
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