Coaches saviour golden moment
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday May 11, 2024 05:54
Ndolo, who is credited with identifying talent, said he worked with some of the team members at a young age, including Letsile Tebogo during the Botswana Primary Schools Sport Association (BOPSSA) Under-13 championships. Ndolo led the 2016 Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa (COSSASA) team, in which Tebogo was part of the 4x400m relay.
“I worked with Leungo Scotch after he completed his Junior Secondary School education at his home village of Kareng. As for Bayapo Ndori, I worked with him after he completed his senior secondary school education. In 2018, I introduced him to the Botswana Games as an anchor in the relay team, a role that he perfected since then.
You can see how comfortable he is in that position, he is unstoppable,” he said. Ndolo said he is optimistic that the team can put up the same performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, especially if Tebogo is roped in. He said there are still many talented athletes to continue the legacy in the 400m and 4x400m relay in the country, and one athlete he is currently grooming is Stensolo Sibanda. Meanwhile, the relay team's head coach, Justice Dipeba told MmegiSport that being world champions is a special feeling and the athletes deserve it.
Regarding the changes that he made in the final, where he replaced Isaac Makwala with Collen Kebinatshipi in the first leg, Dipeba explained that they were going to need fresh and young legs in the final. “That is not an option we had in the past competitions, which forced us to use the same four athletes for the first round and the finals.
But with this team, we brought eight athletes for each event, and we were lucky we were spoilt for choice with the team we had at the championships. So it was necessary to bring in another athlete for the final. We did that with the other relay teams,” he said. When asked about his take on the nation's mixed reactions about the inclusion of seasoned athlete, Isaac Makwala in the team, Dipeba said there will always be a lot of noise surrounding the selection of the team.
“It is difficult to please supporters. To them, athletes have to perform every day, and with sport that is not always the case. Young athletes are worried that by the time when they do not perform well, they will be roasted and insulted. 'I mean, it is not wrong for people to express their opinions, but they should do it properly.
We cannot control what individuals post on social media,” Dipeba said. He said moving forward to other competitions, the team would be selected and suggested to the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) board by the vice president-technical and technical experts that he will engage to assist him. Dipeba stated that with relays, there is always a high chance of seeing new faces at different competitions.