Mind boggling how athletics has remained homeless

Mqondisi Dube | Monday March 25, 2024 15:33

Now, spare a thought for the country’s most excelling code, which is essentially a vagabond with no fixed abode.

Yes, there is temporary residence at the National Stadium, but for a code of athletics’ stature, it is undisputed that a proper, fully fledged office is a must. During the just ended African Games in Ghana, athletics was keenly followed and although they did not dazzle, the athletes brought back some medals as has become the bare minimum.

As the country prepares to send its track ambassadors to the Olympic Games in Paris, all hopes are on an athlete, Letsile Tebogo, and likely the 4x400m men’s relay team to deliver the goods. Not that other codes do not matter; they do but athletics has been performing a level above everybody else and that has to be acknowledged.

Worries over possible hangover post the Isaac Makwala, Nijel Amos and Amantle Victor-Nkape (formerly Montsho) era have been emphatically banished with the emergence of fresh talent. It is testament of athletics’ enduring legacy which picked up tempo when Montsho (Victor-Nkape will take time to getting used to), was crowned the 400m world champion in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011. Amos took it a notch further with Botswana’s first ever Olympic medal in 2012 as a bright period opened up for athletics. It has been unrelenting since then as Botswana is now firmly among top athletics countries on the continent. Tebogo leads a new gang of fanged lions and lionesses that have calmed the nerves over the exit of the Montsho, Amos, Makwala generation.

Last year, Botswana was granted the rights to organise an event that even the continent’s superpowers like South Africa can only dream of. The Botswana Golden Grand Prix attracted the who-is-who of world athletics to Botswana’s shores for the first time. But of concern is that the administration of local athletics still has yawning gaps and at times wanders worryingly close to being amateurish. The Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) has no office and it follows that there is no secretariat. For a code that has been the standard bearer of local sport, this is simply unacceptable.

Tales of the head of the secretariat, the chief executive officer, being appointed were long told. However, like many other instances across the sports industry, this has remained in the pipeline for ages. Flying into a country regarded among the best in the athletics business, one expects to be confronted by a glass (and classy) structure that embodies athletics' excellence. One would expect to be ushered into the CEO office, with a fully fledged secretariat in tow. But that has not happened and there are no promises of it happening in the short to medium-term.

Here is a gap for a legacy for someone to leave. Any person who will drive the building of athletics offices (proper offices not just a roof over the head) and see the establishment of a secretariat, will emerge as a hero. Thus far there has been no zeal to scratch where it’s itching. It's a race that is behind time.