Rasta, a nickname he attracted due to his hairstyle, last weekend blasted 10.29s in the 100m to finish second during the Road to the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix.
The performance saw the athlete engraving his name in position six of Botswana’s 100m all-time record and he registered his personal best (PB) in the process. “I started athletics at Bobonong Primary School, usually during athletics term. Everyone in the school was supposed to go to the grounds for team selection.
That is how I ended up in athletics. By then it was just for fun and I was running 100m and 400m. I was only competing in the interschool competitions,” the 25-year-old said. It was only at Tsetsebye Junior Secondary School that the Bobonong-born star was introduced to long jump and to his surprise he was the best in the school.
Monaiwa said he then started doing the long jump and 100m. He reached the national championships in 2014 while doing Form Three, winning his first gold medal during the 2016 Botswana Integrated Sports Association National Championships as a Form Five student. “That is when I started taking athletics seriously as I was picked for the national junior team but I made my national team debut as a hurdler (110m) during the 2014 Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa Championships,” he said.
Monaiwa said being in the national team made him appreciate athletics and not take it as a leisure activity. He started to meet people he used to see on television.
“Of the two events that I am doing, 100m is my favourite. There is not much expectation from me or other people because it is not my primary event. I used to run 100m just as part of my long jump preparation but when I met coach Kebonyemodisa ‘Dose’ Mosimanyane (during the 2020–2021 season), he suggested I give 100m a fair chance as my age allows that I train and compete in both events,” he said in his calm and collected persona. Monaiwa explained that training for long jump and 100m is good because they are a bit similar and the strength he gets from long jump training he uses it in the 100m and the same thing applies during the 100m sprints. He said it can only be difficult on competition day because the schedule is usually tight and there is less rest. He added that both events are demanding and the one that is last on the day suffers. “For example, last weekend I had to race in a very tough 100m heat after a very intensive series of jumping, which I believe took something out of me.
So it is very difficult to compete in both events on the same day,” he said. Monaiwa said for most of his career, he was a student-athlete and it is difficult to balance the two. He was able to give his athletics career attention after graduating from the University of Botswana in 2021. “Although I got injured early into the season, my 2021-2022 season was my best so far as I qualified for the Africa Senior Championships final on my debut and the Commonwealth Games also reaching the final as well. As there are no African Games this year, my eyes are on qualifying for Budapest World Athletics Championships. I believe that will put me in a good space to stamp my ticket to Paris 2024,” he said.
Monaiwa is currently training at the High Performance Centre in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He said while winning the race on Saturday could have been the cherry on top, it was great to make back-to-back PBs. “Thuto Masasa (who beat Monaiwa over the weekend) always gives me stiff competition. We are almost at the same level so anytime we go head-to-head we leave everything on the track. My strength is on the starting blocks; a good start always gets me ahead of my competitors early on in the race. My ritual before the race is listening to music, it soothes my soul,” he said.
FACT FILE
Full names: Thapelo Monaiwa Date of birth: February 25, 1998 Place of birth: Bobonong Profession: Athlete Club: Lions Den Spike size: Long jump 9, Sprint 8 Role model: Carl Lewis Hobbies: Reading and playing video games Favourite dish: Pasta and chicken
