Ban hurts athletes’ Olympic chances
Athletics coach, Ofentse Jele has bemoaned the recent decision by government to halt sport activities, which might affect preparations for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The government has announced sports activities would be suspended until the end of March in a bid to curtail the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).
But Jele fears some of the athletes would miss out on qualification.
“Many athletes were targeting races between March and April to qualify for the Olympic games. The athletes were planning to beat the winter season. In winter, it is not easy for athletes to perform at their best. For this reason some of them might not perform at their best in winter, something that would ultimately make them not qualify for the Olympics.
“Athletes also become injury-prone in winter. It would have been good for athletes to have qualified between March and April so that they do not train intensively and risk injuries,” Jele said.
Jele noted that many athletes were beginning to gain momentum after a long break and inadequate training owing to COVID-19.
He said with the recent developments it means that some athletes will only start full training in April, meaning that most of them will only be ready for competitions from May, when the winter season sets in.
Jele said he had not stopped coaching 100m record holder, Leungo Matlhaku who is eyeing Olympic qualification.
“It is, however, disheartening for her to train without knowing when her next race will be or without competing. Even national team athletes will be affected. They need to constantly test themselves against others instead of just training alone.”
“The slight advantage with Matlhaku is that sprints are technical races. She does not necessarily have to train with a group,” he said.
National team coach, Justice Dipeba said despite being allowed to train, national team athletes would also be affected by the halting of sports activities because they do not compete. “Our relay teams are also yet to qualify for the Olympics.
I anticipate that locally competitions will fully return in winter. It is difficult for athletes to clock better times in winter. If we had resources we would be moving them to Europe between May and July because that side it will be warmer during those months.”
For the women and men’s relay national teams they have to maintain a ranking of number 16 worldwide to qualify for the Olympics. The women’s relay team is currently ranked 21st in the world while the men’s team is at number 11.
However, Dipeba said that with teams in other countries competing, the development could hurt the chances of Botswana’s teams from qualifying.