This is after the two national team athletes earlier this year broke protocol by sneaking out of training camp on which they were ultimately involved in a car crash
TLOTLO KEBINAKGABO
Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) top brass will this weekend convene to discuss the fate of national team athletes Baboloki Thebe and Onkabetse Nkobolo, Gazette Sport can reveal.
This comes after the two athletes earlier this year went against protocol by sneaking out of training camp on which they were at the end involved in a car accident. Reports suggest that the two were returning from a party in the wee hours of the morning when the driver (Thebe) lost control of the car which then overturned.
They were at the time in a training camp at one of the hotels in Gaborone where the athletics team bound for the now postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics lodged. Following the athletes’ accident, the BAA leadership then engaged the services of an independent auditor to investigate the circumstances that led to the two being involved in a car accident.
“The investigation report is now out but the board is yet to meet and see the way forward in line with its recommendations and findings,” BAA vice president (administration) told this publication in an interview. “Until the board meets that is when I can tell the out the outcome of the investigation, for now I cannot say anything.” He said the board is scheduled to meet this Saturday (July 11).
Gazette Sport has established that the two athletes were under the influence of alcohol when their car overturned something which Theetso declined to confirm. “As I said I cannot discuss findings of the report at the moment,” he noted.
To that end, the BAA vice president administration said Nkobolo has been discharged from hospital and is undergoing strength training at home. “He is being trained on how to walk yet again, remember he has been ridden for a while now,” he said. “The doctors have also stated that he will be able to run again in the near future, but it will not be like before.”
Thebe and Nkobolo are influential members of the country’s 4x400m relay. They were part of the relay team that won Botswana a gold medal (4x400m) during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, Theetso further informed this publication that the BAA leadership will use the weekend meeting to discuss the welfare of athletes.