The first Motswana judoka to qualify for the Olympics, Gavin Mogopa, has attained a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Sport Management at the Cardiff Metropolitan University.
The athlete is based at Cardiff Metropolitan University under the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Elite Scholarship. Mogopa told MmegiSport that he was excited about his achievement. Mogopa received a wild card to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the men’s 60kg category. He, however, later picked up an injury ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games. He said after the injury, he decided to have an alternative to his career. “This is a huge achievement and I hope other athletes see this and not only rely on sport but look into life after sport. It is great to have the spotlight but when the lights at the stadium switch off, you only have you. This is something I learnt after my injury. People used to celebrate me but after my injury, they moved on to celebrate the next person. I was left alone. The job market is very competitive and a degree or certificate goes a long way,” Mogopa said.
The judoka said he has applied to pursue a master's degree and return home after that. “My heart is in Botswana and I want to promote and grow sports at home. It is very important to realise that we have a good economy. Botswana is in a good place when compared to other countries. We have so much room for growth,” he said. Mogopa observed that there is a huge gap between grassroots and high performance. “As a country we focus on high performance and do not have a good system that feeds into that. We are focused on results, which influences athletes to turn to performance enhancement. (Despite the talent) ...we [still] do not have a high-performance centre,” he said. Amongst his achievements, Mogopa is a 14-time Botswana national champion, four-time South Africa Open gold medallist, and 2015 Zone VI Judo Championship gold medallist. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 Zone VI Judo Championship Seniors and finished fifth at the European Open. He is also has a gold and silver medal from the Region V Games. Mogopa won a gold medal at the 2018 International Judo Federation (IJF) African Open Championships, which is part of the IJF world tour event.
