Thebe fluffs Tokyo 2020 qualifier

Valencia , Spanish this past Tuesday night. With his last short at qualifying going up in smoke, the runner could not reach the illusive 44.90 mark.

In an interview this week, Botswana National Olympic Committee ( BNOC) acting Chief Executive Officer ( CEO), Wedu Motswetla said the athlete’s failure to qualify is more technical as he was offered all the support to go all out and qualify.

“He is part of the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship, so he had all the resources to qualify. His failure to qualify is rather a technical issue. I think the Botswana Athletics Association ( BAA) can address that better.”

Additionally, Motswetla said the imposed travel ban by many countries meant athletes can only qualify locally, and while some did qualify, others could not. “Other than the World Relays and the events we organized locally, there are no other opportunities for athletes to qualify,” she stressed.

She also said Thebe had other resources apart from the Olympic Solidarity Program, as he has been sponsored by Choppies Botswana, but did not attend many qualifying events locally and only raced competitively on the last hour.

Athletics national team coach, Justice Dipeba could not be reached for comment as his phone ran unanswered by press time. Other individual athletes who failed to qualify for the Olympics include Karabo Sibanda, Boitumelo Masilo, Leungo Scotch, Leungo Matlhaku and Leaname Maotoanong. It remains to be seen if Thebe will make part of the relay team that qualified for the Olympics, a few months back.