Two local top cyclists, Lebopo Mompe and Kato Ramahobo will miss out on the Paris 2024 Olympics championships in Johannesburg scheduled for this weekend. Mompe is studying in Australia after receiving a Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Elite scholarship. He will be in Australia until 2025. Ramahobo is in the United Kingdom, studying at Bath University.

The Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) president, Kagiso Potongwane said the two athletes could not be part of the qualifiers.

“The duo was selected to be part of the championships but could not make the trip due to logistics challenges. The event is not the only qualifier and there are quotas for countries as well so they are not out. Qualifiers have been running since last year, that is, the Ghana Road championships and some are still to come like the All Africa Games,” he said.

The BCA has sent a team to Johannesburg, South Africa for the Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) mountain biking (MTB) championships scheduled for the weekend ( June 3-4). The championships are a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Potongwane said the BCA technical committee and the executive committee confirmed the travelling team in May. He said some of the athletes who made the team are making their national team debut and such exposure is good for their overall development.

“Our objective is to see the athletes competing well and doing their best, therefore, there is no pressure on them in the form of target. We want them to focus on doing their personal best

(PB),” he said.

Potongwane said participation in major games like continental games gives athletes the opportunity to gain more points, based on performance.

“Such points assist cyclists to improve their rankings as individuals as well as for the country. The more active our athletes are in such competitions also improves their performance for future competitions as well as their experience to compete at major games,” Potongwane said.

He said there was a training camp ahead of the CAC MTB championships, which is a good thing as it gave BCA leadership feedback on the fitness and performance potential of the cyclists. He said the coach, Karabo Moletsane will attend MTB coaching course Level One organised in cooperation with Union Cycliste Internationale commonly known as UCI together with World Cycling Centre (WCC) which runs the games.

Points acquired during UCI Mountain Bike Olympic qualification events will count towards Olympic qualification. National Olympic Committee (NOC) ranked one to eight will have two athletes qualify, with those ranked nine to 19 having one athlete.

A maximum of two Continental Championships are included in the rankings, with the last two to take place counting if there are more than two.

The team:

Lobopo Kono (Under-23 female), Gontse Lethokwe (elite), Sandile Slave-Mpelo (elite), and Thato Madimabe (elite). Saviour Matlhakanyane is the mechanic.