A Golden Run: Botswana Declares Holiday After Stunning World Championship Win
Botswana will mark a new chapter in its sporting history with a public holiday after the national men’s 4x400m relay team stunned the world at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The southern African nation became the first from the continent to claim gold in the event, breaking the United States’ decade-long dominance.
In a televised address, President Duma Boko called the achievement a “victory for Africa,” praising the athletes for lifting Botswana onto the global stage. He declared Monday, 29 September, a national holiday alling just a day before Independence Day so that citizens can celebrate the remarkable win together.
The quartet of Lee Bhekempilo Eppie, Letsile Tebogo, Bayapo Ndori and Busang Collen Kebinatshipi delivered a nail-biting performance in wet conditions, edging out the United States, who had won the last 10 titles. South Africa claimed bronze.
Speaking from New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly, President Boko likened the team’s achievement to Botswana’s famed diamonds. “Our treasures are not only beneath the earth,” he said. “They also run on the track, carrying the flag of Botswana to the very top of the world.”
The win capped an extraordinary championship for the country, which finished fifth in the medal table its best result yet collecting two golds, one silver and a bronze.
It is not the first time Botswana has paused national life to celebrate an athletics triumph. Just last year, sprint star Letsile Tebogo made history by winning gold in the men’s 200m at the Paris Olympics, becoming the first African ever to achieve that feat. Tens of thousands of fans welcomed him back at Gaborone’s National Stadium, where the government granted a half-day holiday in his honour.
President Boko described the latest relay gold as “an electric moment for Botswana and Africa at large,” one that cements the nation’s growing influence in world athletics.
