At the 2020 Olympics held in 2021 due to COVID effects, Botswana had three female athletes but none have qualified for this year's edition which starts in Paris next month. The last local opportunity for the athletes to qualify was passed over the weekend during the BAA Track and Field series at the National Stadium. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Botswana had Amantle Montsho, Galefele Moroko, and Christine Botlogetswe. The BAA vice president-administration, Oabona Theetso, told MmegiSport that the issue of women's qualifications is complex. “In the last Olympics, we had three women who had qualified by right. Today, as we speak no woman has qualified by right, only Oratile Nowe stands a chance to qualify by rankings. When compared to the last Olympics, we have regressed by two athletes,” he said.
Theetso said all stakeholders that deal with the girl-child need to find solutions to the problem because it does not affect the BAA alone. “If we have Lydia Jele who at one point was running 50 seconds, Moroko with a personal best (PB) of 51 seconds but now struggling to clock the same time, what is the problem? If we have Tsaone Sebele who for the longest time was running 11 seconds why is not able to run 10 seconds? We should all be concerned,” he said. Theetso said they are worried about the performance of women. He said it is the same challenge they face with the 4x400m mixed relay team, where the boys are doing well but in some instances, the girls do not come to the party, which affects the overall performance of the team. Women and Sport Botswana (WASBO) secretary-general, Olebogeng Oitebetse, said many factors contribute to women athletes’ failure to qualify for the Olympics. “Women, generally score high on being motivated by the satisfaction and competence derived from learning new skills and improving their performance. Males may be more ego-orientated and motivated by competitiveness and winning,” she said.
Oitebetse said other factors that hinder women from qualifying is the workplace culture, noting that Jele is employed so she does not have much time to dedicate to training as much as she wishes to push for qualification time. “Jele is also a wife. She should also focus on her family, sometimes balancing (roles) might hinder concentration in training. Other factors include gender stereotypes, sexism, affordability and accessibility of childcare. When Montsho was still active, she used to push other athletes to qualify. Now that she is gone, they are struggling. She was their mentor,” Oitebetse said. She said when the national team returned from World Athletics Relays, Jele, Obakeng Kamberuka, and Botlogetswe should have been supported by attending races in Europe to increase their chances of qualifying for the Olympics.
Oitebetse added that the mixed relay team also deserved exposure and it could have qualified. “We need to come up with support programmes that will support women athletes from all sporting codes to qualify for the Olympics,” she said. Meanwhile, Theetso said the mixed relay and men’s 4x100m relays have been invited to compete at the Kenya Olympic trials on Saturday and Sunday.
