Botswana President declares Public Holiday to celebrate 4×400 Metre World Championship Gold Medal win

By Emmanuel Austin Baah On Sep 23, 2025

President of Botswana Duma Boko has declared a public holiday in the country to celebrate the country’s Men’s 4×400 Metre Relay historic win at the World Athletics Championships.

This year’s Championships that recently concluded in Tokyo, Japan had Botswana beat out the United States of America (winners of the event in the last 10 world championships) to win the gold medal; South Africa finished in third place.

Letsile Tebogo, Lee Eppie Bhekempilo, Bayapo Ndori and Collen Kebinatshipi pushed Botswana past the US to win Africa’s first ever gold medal in the event.

“I’ll be sure to tell everyone, Botswana’s natural diamonds are not just in the ground, they are our World Champion athletes” President Boko said in his address delivered at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA.

Duma G. Boko, the President of Botswana (Photo by Bert Van Den Broucke / Photonews via Getty Images)

This isn’t the first time a move like this has been made to celebrate Botswana’s athletes as a half-day holiday was declared last year to celebrate Tebogo’s 200 Metre gold medal win at the 2024 Olympics.

(L-R) Gold medalists Lee Bhekempilo Eppie, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi, Letsile Tebogo and Bayapo Ndori of Team Botswana pose for a photo with the national flag after winning the Men’s 4×400 Metres Relay Final on day nine of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

In the 2024 Olympics, Botswana won silver in the Men’s 4×400 Metre Relays. Botswana won gold and bronze in the Men’s 4X400 Metre event.

Bronze medalist Bayapo Ndori of Team Botswana (R) and gold medalist Busang Collen Kebinatshipi of Team Botswana (L) pose for a photo with the national flag of Botswana after competing in the Men’s 400 Metres Final (Photo by Andrzej Iwanczuk/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Author

Emmanuel Austin Baah

My name is Emmanuel Austin Baah, professionally known as “Okocha”. I am a seasoned Ghanaian journalist, broadcaster and football commentator from Senya Bereku in the Central Region. My work reflects a strong commitment to factual reporting, ethical journalism and the continuous promotion of Ghanaian sports.

I am currently pursuing my studies at Cape Coast Technical University, building on a solid foundation of media practice and communication. I previously served as a sports producer at Radio Gold (90.5) and Montie FM (100.1) in Accra, where I was actively involved in editorial planning, programme production, live commentary and in-depth sports analysis.

Presently, I am a Senior Writer at SportsNetGhana.com, a role in which I produce well-researched features, match reports, athlete profiles and analytical pieces. My work consistently highlights emerging talents, captures key sporting developments and contributes to shaping informed sports discourse in Ghana.

Over the course of my career, I have covered numerous major sporting events both locally and internationally. Among these, the highlight remains my coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a significant milestone that strengthened my expertise in global football reporting and enhanced my understanding of international sports dynamics.

I am widely recognised for my clarity of analysis, engaging commentary style and strong command of both local and global football trends. Beyond the newsroom, I participate in community initiatives aimed at developing young sports journalists and promoting youth engagement in sports.

For professional engagements, media collaborations or enquiries, please contact me on 0265284330.

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