FOCUS: Botswana’s great Olympic Games hopeful has lofty ambitions for the continent

By Sports Reporter

As Botswana’s great track hope ahead of the 2024 Olympics, Letsile Tebogo has lofty ambitions for Africa. Yet the 20-year-old, who claimed two medals at the World Championships last year, is keeping a cool head as his own focus this year shifts towards the Paris Games, which begin on 26 July.

“I don’t have any goals for the Olympics because I haven’t thought about what will happen,” Tebogo told Newsday on the BBC World Service.

“I need to sit down and see, and then set the goals. I will then announce my goals if I feel like it.”Part of the reason for Tebogo’s reticence is the fact he is representing a country that has only won two medals since it first competed in the Olympics in 1980 – with neither of them gold.

Nijel Amos claimed the southern African nation’s first Olympic medal in 2012, winning silver in the men’s 800m.

Nine years later, the quartet of Isaac Makwala, Bayapo Ndori, Zibane Ngozi and Baboloki Thebe won men’s 4x400m relay bronze at the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Now attention has turned to Tebogo, and the expectation on his shoulders is justified. A two-time 100m champion at world Under-20 level, where he also picked up two silver medals over 200m in 2021 and 2022, he is starting to translate his success on to the senior stage.

Tebogo took silver over the shorter distance at the Worlds in Hungary last August, and followed that up with bronze in the 200m. One of Tebogo’s role models is a sprint legend he has been compared to – the great Usain Bolt.

He believes the Jamaican, who holds eight Olympic sprint golds, dominated because of a “relaxed” approach towards races.

Tebogo hopes to emulate that by remaining mentally focused and, in particular, staying away from social media during big events. “A lot of people decide to say whatever they want on social media and it can damage the mental health,” Tebogo said.

“There is nothing you can do as a sprinter if your mental health is damaged because you won’t be able to focus. “There will always be good people and bad people.”

Letsile Tebogo of Botswana celebrates and takes photos with fans after winning bronze in the men’s 200m final at the 2023 World Athletics Championships

Tebogo may be happy to take selfies with fans, but uses his own phone less during competition time

A talented footballer and athlete as a teenager, Tebogo only started treating athletics as a full-time career in 2019 after he completed his first major 100m in 10.68 seconds and clocked 21.12 for 200m.

“Athletics was a part-time thing,” he said. “Everything clicked and transformed from 2019. I sat down and asked myself questions. “I played football for more than five years but it never took me outside of the capital city of Botswana.

“With athletics, I was going abroad and that was when I took that decision to transform from being a footballer to being an athlete.”

Reaching elite level was smooth sailing for Tebogo because of his achievements and, after 2019, his natural abilities.

“I qualified for junior events because I ran crazy times from the age of seven to 16 or 17,” he said. “Opportunities came and I got an endorsement. It was not really hard for me.”

African sprinting has been gathering momentum like never before, with the continent gaining recognition at the past two editions of the World Championships.

The rise of South Africans Luxolo Adams and Akani Simbine, Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala has shifted a focus that has been heavily weighted on American sprinters for so long.

“The change I’ve seen is people are now more invested and interested in coming to see what Africans really do as sprinters,” Tebogo said. Nicknamed ‘Schoolboy’, Tebogo is humbled by the positive reception he has received in his native Botswana and Africa at large.

“It means a lot to me because I never imagined myself representing the country,” he said.

“It’s more like a surprise to me. I think I’m taking it well. It’s so amazing to know that the whole nation and Africa is behind me. It’s surreal.”

However, with many countries on the continent not having adequate facilities to harness and develop world-class talent on a regular basis, Tebogo is hoping to inspire other athletes to shine throughout Africa.

“There is something we have to fight through,” he said. “There are some resources that are not there in Africa – they are only in the European and American countries.

“An indoor track should be built where Africans can practice indoors. They should be able to do recovery sessions in Africa instead of having to go to France or Europe.

“I would like to see more infrastructure built for the athletes in Africa because we only have four or five recognisable tracks.

“We have to increase those tracks. We have to try to use everything that we have to our advantage.”

AFRICAN BASKETBALL ON THE RISE

High anticipation: Some highlights to look out for in 2024

By Sports Reporter

2023 has entered the history books of African basketball as one that recorded countless surprising results, and the next twelve might not be any different. As always, many African basketball events will be streamed live on FIBA’s Youtube Channel with additional coverage across FIBA’s social media platforms. 

There is so much to watch out for this year, including the 2024 Paris Olympics and the fourth edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Without further ado, FIBA.basketball brings you some African basketball highlights to look out for in 2024.

With the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Season Four on the horizon, Moroccan city of Rabat will be home to the highly-anticipated BAL Combine, where players from all corners of the globe will showcase their talent and look to find potential employers’ interest.

2025 FIBA AfroBasket Pre-Qualifiers (January 2024)

The race for a chance to enter the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers begins in January 2024 with teams that missed out the last edition of the quadrennial AfroBasket taking to the floor across several African cities.

Antananarivo, Madagascar, will be the first city to host a pre-qualifier, gathering FIBA Africa Zone 7 countries. Other FIBA Africa Zones will follow.

The 2025 AfroBasket Pre-Qualifiers concludes right before the AfroBasket Qualifiers begin in February.

2025 FIBA AfroBasket Pre-Qualifiers and Qualifiers

The 20-team AfroBasket Qualifiers will take place over three qualifying windows in February and November 2024 and it will conclude in February 2025.  16 out of 20 countries will qualify to the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket.

Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (February)

Reigning African champions Nigeria and 2023 Women’s AfroBasket runner-up Senegal will represent the continent at FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT) in February.

Nigeria and Senegal were draw in the Antwerp WOQT against hosts Belgium and reigning Olympic champions USA.

Basketball Africa League (March, April, May and June 2024)

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) will celebrate its fourth anniversary in a remarkable fashion.

The 2024 BAL season will feature the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries playing a record 48 games across four African countries – South Africa, Egypt, Senegal and Rwanda – over four months, marking the first BAL games in South Africa and the first time the league will play in four different countries. 

FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (July)

Four African countries – Angola, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt – will compete in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in an attempt to join South Sudan at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

2024 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup (Boys/Girls)

U16 African champions Guinea and runners-up Egypt will represent the continent at the 2024 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup in Turkey (June 29 – July 7). U16 African champions Mali and runners-up Egypt will represent Africa at the 2024 FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Mexico (13-21 July).

Olympic Games (July 27 – August 11)

So far, one African country – South Sudan – has qualified to the Paris Olympics with four other countries – Angola, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt – hoping to join the Bright Stars.

Meanwhile one of the two African teams – Nigeria or Senegal – will qualify to the Women’s Olympics tournament trough the WOQT.

FIBA U18 African Championships (Men/Women)

The biennial U18 African Championships (Men and Women) return this year. Schedule and host countries are yet to be confirmed.

OTHER EVENTS

AWBL – The second edition of the Africa Women’s Basketball League is expected to return in December 2024.

Road to BAL  – The -pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds for the BAL Season 5 are expected to run between September and November 2024.

Basketball Without Borders – Host and Rosters are yet to be confirmed.