How we are losing ground to Botswana

Namibia may have historically led Botswana with bragging rights on the Olympics medals tally for a number of years, but that lead is slowly narrowing as the neighbours continue to develop in recent athletics successes.

Botswana’s steady rise in the world of athletics has impressed many around the globe, while Namibia had no representation in track and field at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, other than marathon veteran Helalia Johannes.

Athletics expert Hennie Horn from Swakopmund believes Botswana has made an improvement due to their commitment to infrastructure and development, while Namibia has fallen behind due to deteriorating state of the country’s sport facilities.

“If you take a look at our tracks and facilities, you can expect nothing less from our Olympics participation.

“Botswana has done so well because they have invested in proper infrastructure and their development strategy has been on par.

“It takes years to achieve something of that nature in terms of developing athletes in order for them to compete at future Olympics,” Horn said.

He believes Namibia must invest in developing the skills of its coaches in order for them to transfer the skills to upcoming talent.

He emphasized that the country needs focus on improving the standard of its facilities if positive change is to come.

“My personal opinion is that Botswana has looked after the youth and that is always important.

“As we speak, I am working to help some athletes qualify for the Youth Olympics (2026 in Dakar, Senegal) and that can be a good start for the future.”



Catching up

By 2012, Botswana only had Nijel Amos’ 800 metres silver medal to its name in Olympics history, while Namibia had been stuck on the same total of four medals since 1996.

Thanks to Frank Fredericks’ Olympic career yielding four silver medals, Namibia had been leading Botswana in the overall medals tally.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Namibia and Botswana each earned a silver medal, bringing Namibia’s tally to five, while it was only Botswana’s second-ever medal history.

In a space of just two Olympic cycles, Botswana is now just one medal behind Namibia and are now sending more athletes to the competition.

The signs that Botswana was on a major transformation in athletics started appearing and they are celebrating Letsile Tebogo’s sensational 200 metres gold medal at the Paris Olympics, as well as scooping a silver in the men’s 4x400 relay.



A sprinting tragedy

Athletics Namibia’s hopes towards this year’s Games would have probably rested on 2021 Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma and fellow finalist Beatrice Masilingi.

Pundits feel the Ministry of Sport did not do enough to protect the interest of the athletes after World Athletics’ arbitrary ruling that the athletes were required to take medication to lower their natural testosterone levels.

Masilingi also ended up moving to South Africa to join another coach and the move is set to have been one of the reasons why she did not excel after having impressed prior to the controversies.

The pair were left with just a short time in which to attempt qualification in the 100 and 200 metres (with the 400 still ruled off-limits to them) and did not make the cut.



Other sports codes

Botswana has not only held the edge against Namibia in track and field, but also in other sport codes such as football. In 20 men’s internationals, the Brave Warriors only won three times (twice in 1994, once in 1996), with nine draws and eight losses.

Recently, a steady number of Namibians have joined Botswana premier league clubs in search of better opportunities.

Sport Wrap’s investigation suggests the football clubs in that country pays better salaries to players than in Namibia.



What is to be done

Namibia Sports Commission chief administrator Freddy Mwiya admitted that Botswana has taken an approach that has yielded the desired results and medals.

“Yes, it is true that Botswana has had a drastic transformation after their ministry empowered their Sport Commission in terms of personnel.

“All sport officers in that country are attached to the Commission and that has been one of the key reasons why things have changed so much.

“The sports directorate in Botswana are now less than 10 because every sport officer is attached and is responsible for a specific code.

“This enables sport officers to focus on fields they are familiar with, rather than being all over the place like ours,” Mwiya said.

Sport Wrap understands that regional rivals such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Eswatini have taken a similar approach to that of Botswana.

The Sports Commission had planned on a similar proposal since 2018 but there has been delays in finalizing the plans.



Comparative stats



Namibia at the Olympic Games

Debut: 1992 Barcelona.

1992: 2 silver medals – Frank Fredericks, 100 and 200 metres.

1996: 2 silver medals – Frank Fredericks, 100 and 200 metres.

2020: 1 silver medal – Christine Mboma, 200 metres.

Size of 2024 team (four): Road running (1), cycling (2), swimming (1).



Botswana at the Olympic Games

Debut: 1980 Moscow.

2012: 1 silver medal – Nijel Amos, 800 metres.

2020: 1 silver medal – Men’s 4x400 relay.

2024: 1 gold (Letsile Tebobo, 200 metres) and 1 silver medal (Men’s 4x400 relay).

Size of 2024 team (11): Athletics (9), swimming (2).