Botswana declares Public Holiday to celebrate historic World Athletics Championships victory
Botswana is basking in glory after its men’s 4×400m relay team clinched a stunning gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, making history as the first African nation to ever win the event and the second after South Africa (men’s 4x100m in 2001) to win a relay gold.
In recognition of this monumental achievement, President Duma Boko, speaking from the UN General Assembly in New York, announced that Monday, September 29 will be a national holiday. The date falls just ahead of Botswana’s Independence Day.
‘Botswana’s natural diamonds aren’t just beneath our soil, they’re our World Champion athletes,’ President Boko declared, calling the win ‘electric’ and a symbol of the nation’s rising global stature.
The victorious quartet, Lee Bhekempilo Eppie, Letsile Tebogo, Bayapo Ndori, and Busang Collen Kebinatshipi, delivered a thrilling performance, edging out the United States, who had held the title for ten consecutive championships.
Despite adverse weather, Botswana surged to victory, with South Africa taking bronze.
This triumph capped Botswana’s most successful World Championships to date, finishing fifth in the medal standings with two golds, one silver, and one bronze, surpassed only by the U.S., Kenya, the Netherlands, and Canada.
The celebration echoes last year’s Olympic milestone when Letsile Tebogo won Botswana’s first ever gold in the men’s 200m at the Paris Games, also marking Africa’s first Olympic title in that event.
