OPINION:BNSC SHOULD HONOUR AMANTLE MONTSHO(37)

Botswana National Sports Commission(BNSC) should honour 400m veteran sprinter Amantle Montsho following her recent truly unexpected Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification marking her 4th appearance in the highly sought after summer games.

AMANTLE MONTSHO IS BOTSWANA`S BEST

Amantle Montsho,arguably the best sportswomen of the 21st century in Botswana has defied her aging 36 years to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 games,first making her appearance in 2004 Athens Olympics,2008 Beijing Olympicsa and 2012 London Olympics.She truly deserves an honour,for she is among the greatest of all times.

In a similar fashion,Usain Bolt who has been honoured in his home country Jamaica for his illustrious career winning 9 medals since participating in Olympics has earned him a statue of his famous celebration pose.

Likewise our very own former world champion Montsho deserves better too for she has dedicated her life to athletics and did wonders in the process without fail observing the sports circumstances in our country.

AMANTLE MONTSHO IS WELL ACCOMPLISHED

Additionally,Amantle Montsho has accomplished far more than many hall of fame inductees  in Botswana. Amantle Montsho has won it all,a gold in World championship, World Continental Cup, African Championship, All Africa Games, Diamond League, Commonwealth games and definitely national championship as far as 2004.

Even though disappointingly she had not won any medal at the past three Olympics,she did pretty much well for herself and country by not only qualifying but settling for fourth and sixth places respectively.An honour by BNSC will motivate her to and other hard workers out there to stay in the sport to give back the winning mentality to other upcoming youngsters.

MONTSHO IS A ROLE MODEL

Equally significant,Amantle Montsho had multiple times received bullying for her body structure makeup from Batswana in general.Admittedly the star athlete almost quit the sport,but no,guess what she kept her head up and did her thing.Actually she came stronger than ever dominating the youngers more than ever and winning BNSC sports awards in the process.Surely she is an inspiration to many young female athletes who want to stop because of their buildup.When honoured and not forgotten,a message will be aired to all talented young ladies out there to never let anyone’s opinion stop them.

TOKYO 2020 EXPECTATIONS

Albeit much expectations for Amantle Montsho to bring a medal from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games,she is still a heroine for qualifying after she was suspended from the sport for illegal drug positive testing especially at her advanced age.

Many wrote her off,she came back strong and focused to be part of the only five qualified athletes in Botswana for the Tokyo 2020 games following her 51.22 seconds clocking at University of Botswana athletics competition recognized by Botswana Athletics Association(BAA) and Botswana National Olympic Committee(BNOC) as a qualifying event.

HONOUR AMANTLE MONTSHO

To rephrase,our sports leaders must make a stem decision to honour Amantle Montsho with either a stadium named after her,build an athletics academy named in her honour or whatever the facility named after her.

In a nutshell,be it the Ministry of Sports, BNSC, BNOC, BAA or any other sports stakeholder,Montsho deserves to be honoured,and honoured with respect and dignity now while alive before it is too late.

BY:Kabelo Seleka[BA(HONS) IN BROADCASTING AND JOURNALISM/CO FOUNDER OF SPORTSNATION)

INTERNATIONAL HONOURS FOR AMANTLE MONTSHO

Courtesy of World Athletics Association

Personal Best 49.33 secs at  Stade Louis II, Monaco (MON) on 19 JUL 2013 with a New Record ranked 1233

OLYMPIC GAMES

4.	400 Metres	49.75		Olympic Stadium, London (GBR)	05 AUG 2012
6.	400 Metres	51.18		National Stadium, Beijing (CHN)	19 AUG 2008

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

1.	400 Metres	49.56		DS, Daegu (KOR)	29 AUG 2011
2.	400 Metres	49.41		Luzhniki, Moskva (RUS)	12 AUG 2013
7.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:28.00		Olympic Stadium, London (GBR)	13 AUG 2017
7.	400 Metres	50.65		Olympiastadion, Berlin (GER)	18 AUG 2009

WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP

3.

400 Metres

52.53

Aspire Dome, Doha (QAT)

13 MAR 2010

WORLD CONTINENTAL CUP

1.	400 Metres	49.89		Poljud Stadion, Split (CRO)	04 SEP 2010
2.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:27.99		Poljud Stadion, Split (CRO)	05 SEP 2010
6.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:27.65		Olympic Stadium, Athina (GRE)	17 SEP 2006

AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

1.	400 Metres	49.54		Porto Novo (BEN)	29 JUN 2012
1.	400 Metres	50.03		Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi (KEN)	30 JUL 2010
1.	400 Metres	49.83		Addis Abeba (ETH)	02 MAY 2008
2.	400 Metres	52.68		Bambous (MRI)	11 AUG 2006
2.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:31.27		Porto Novo (BEN)	01 JUL 2012
4.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:37.17		Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi (KEN)	01 AUG 2010

ALL AFRICA GAMES

1.	400 Metres	50.87		Maputo (MOZ)	13 SEP 2011
1.	400 Metres	51.13		Algiers (ALG)	20 JUL 2007
2.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:31.96		Prince Moulay Abdellah, Rabat (MAR)	30 AUG 2019
5.	200 Metres	23.71	-0.8	Algiers (ALG)	22 JUL 2007

DIAMOND LEAGUE

WORLD ATHLETICS FINALS

COMMONWEALTH GAMES

1.	400 Metres	50.15		Gold Coast (AUS)	11 APR 2018
1.	400 Metres	50.10		New Delhi (IND)	08 OCT 2010
3.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:26.86		Gold Coast (AUS)	14 APR 2018
6.	4×400 Metres Relay	3:38.44		New Delhi (IND)	12 OCT 2010

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

1.

400 Metres

53.9h

Gaborone (BOT)

05 JUN 2004