From sports injury to academic success
Former hurdles star is pursuing his Phd
At age 21, 400m hurdles sensation Daniel Lagamang had to hang his spikes subsequent to suffering a third degree hamstring injury during the Olympics training camp in Pretoria, South Africa back in 2012. The youngster was one of the most prized asset of the national team, highly expected to dominate the 2012 Olympic Games but fate opposed.
The youngster was truly diverse as he also competed in the 800 m as well. He was expected to qualify for the race and aid Nijel Amos to push for the country’s first ever Olympic medal, however Amos was alone and couldn’t manage to challenge David Rudisha for the gold medal but settled for the Silver Medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
This week BG Sport caught up with the former athlete as he reminisces on the days. “I was depressed back then, I went through emotional distress and I was never the same, my athletics career had just gone up in smoke. Since nothing was done to take care of the injury, I will experience intense pain every time at training.”
Although he has dreamt of dominating and conquering the world through his God given talent, it was never going to be, “it was difficult to accept and I therefore opted to shift my focus to academics and that’s where I found peace. I realized it was about time I shift my focus and accept my fate,” he stressed.
Moreover, he emphasized the importance of backing your sport career with education as he was awarded an Elite athletic scholarship by Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) in 2013 to further his studies at the University of Johannesburg.
He later graduated with Masters in Logistics as well as Bachelor’s Degree in Transport Economics and he is currently pursuing his PhD.
“It’s very important to invest in education because you can get a career threatening injury anytime of the day then you will have nothing to lean back on. We have had great athletes that ended up going back home due to no education; athletes need other alternative of making a living besides athletics.”
In addition, he says education can also help athletes invest smart once they have money.“Education can help you on ways of investing your finances. I can imagine if I didn’t pursue my studies, I could have probably ended at the cattle post as a herd boy.”
Lagamang was by far one of the most decorated juniors ever produced in Botswana. He is the first junior to win a silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008 in India Pune. Still in 2008, he dominated the local shores winning three gold medals at the Botswana Integrated Sport Association (BISA) national finals, southern region champion 400m hurdles and 800m.
In 2009, he won five gold medals and one silver at BISA national finals, finishing school sports on a high. He is the first Motswana to qualify for the IAAF World Junior Championships in 400m hurdles in 2008 in Poland and 2010 in Canada respectively. In the same year he was awarded the junior sportsperson of the year award at the BNSC awards.
As if that was not enough, in 2011 Lagamang became the first Motswana to reach the finals in 400m hurdles at All Africa Games where he came fourth with a national record of 50.88s that has been standing for almost 9 years now.
While in South Africa he was coached by some of the best hurdles coaches including Hennie Cozte from South Africa and Alberto Sanchez from Cuba. In 2012, his career was cut short by the hamstring injury; although he always strived to return to the track but always endured excruciating pains while training. Even though he qualified for World Students Games in Russia in 2013 under the guidance of Scottish born coach Adam Letham, he could not compete at the games.
Lagamang recently returned home with a riproaring story to tell after acquiring his Master’s degree at the University of Johannesburg where he lectured Purchasing and logistics management. Currently, he is a lecturer at Imperial Business School of Science where he is Transport and Logistics Lecturer.