A great jumper in the making
Tshwanelo is not giving up on his love for triple jump
While the fortunes of local field events continue to dwindle and local athletes continually becoming discouraged , there are exceptions like Tshwanelo Aabobe, who have stayed committed to their craft. Having started his athletics career in 2007 in Lobatse, Aabobe has grown tremendously throughout the years in the national team as well as international competitions he previously competed in.
If it wasn’t for the alleged lack of support for field events by the Botswana Athletics Association ( BAA), maybe the 27 year old could have already emulated the likes of Gable Garenamotse and Kabelo Kgosiemang, who performed very well during their prime in at international field events.
“I realized my love for jumping after winning the trials at school by clearing a high bar but missed the mattress. So I realized that in high jump , I could finish first or second locally,” Aabobe narrated his encounter with jumps.
Though he is specializing in high jump, Aabobe also does triple and long jumps. Following the start of his career in 2007, it didn’t take long for the UB Athletics Club member to make his debut at the national team in 2009, featuring for the Under 17 side.
Two years down the line his determination and hard work earned him a spot in the senior team in 2011.
While it has been a tough journey full of ups and downs, the Kanye native has tried his best to bring home some good results in the previous tournaments.
At the age of 18 in 2011, he opened his account in medal winnings, clinching a bronze medal at the Africa Junior Championships and the following year he got another bronze at Africa Open Championships. However, the next three years were very tough for him as podium positions eluded him, therefore settling for semi- final finish at World University Games in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Nevertheless, in 2016 he bounced back strong to win gold in high jump and two silver medals for triple and long jumps at the Africa University Games. Fast forward to 2019, he appeared at the bigger stage, the Africa Games, where he finished in 7th position overall. It was a very impressive performance for a rookie at a much competitive and bigger platform. “One of my highlights was in 2011 at the Africa Junior Champs in front of my home crowd when I got bronze medal, it is always good to win in the presence of your fans.
At the 2016 Africa University games, I performed way better than I thought I would and beat some of the top athletes in the world. My lowlight is the 2019 Africa games where I suffered a hamstring injury when I was in the form of my life but despite the injury I narrowly missed out on a medal,” he said. Though playing under difficult circumstances since there are no or few coaches who specialize in jumps, Aabobe has managed to maintain very good performances.
As much as it is also difficult to do three events at a time, for him it is very simple as evidenced by his rankings in Africa. As of 2020, he was ranked 4th in triple jump, 7th in high jump and 16th in long jump. Currently, a student at University of Johannesburg, Aabobe says he has set his eyes on winning his first Africa senior title as well as making at least one appearance at Olympic finals.