Never has the prospect of wearing the Botswana colours at international multi-sport events been this lucrative.
Forget national pride. Forget playing sport for passion. The recently unveiled Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) and Nike partnership means representing Botswana at major multisport events may bring a financial windfall.
Under the recently unveiled partnership, a podium finish at the Olympics will earn an athlete US$ 30,000 (+/- P400k) for a gold medal, US$ 20,000 (+/- P270k) for a silver medal, and US$ 10,000 (+/- P135k) for a bronze medal.
On the other hand, podium finishes at the Commonwealth Games will see athletes earn US$ 20,000 (+/- P270k) for a gold medal, US$ 10,000 (+/- P135k) for a silver medal, and US$ 5,000 (+/- P67k) for a bronze medal.
“This is on top of the incentives that the government already provides under the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) incentives policy, as well as incentives from the corporates,” BNOC president Tshepo Sitale says.
Currently, a medal at the Olympics comes with a house and monetary benefit, while a medal at the Commonwealth Games or Africa Cup of Nations comes with monetary incentives.
“As an example, if an athlete gets a gold medal at the Olympics, they are guaranteed to get P250 000 from the government through BNSC, pledged incentives from corporates and at least P400 000 from the BNOC Nike deal.”
“For the Commonwealth Games, this means an athlete returning with a Gold medal gets at least P270 000 from the Nike deal. That will be on top of the P150 000 that the athlete gets from the Government under the BNSC incentives policy.”
Combined together, the incentives now make representing Botswana a lucrative prospect. All this align with the BNOC’s current ambition of being an athlete-centric organisation.
Sitale says when the deal with Nike was negotiated, athletes’ welfare and interests was at the heart of it all. Because of this, at least three drafts were drawn and revised before the final agreement was reached.
With so much at stake, the BNOC believes there will be increased appetite from local athletes to represent the country. “We cannot dictate to an athlete when he or she can represent the country. What we are doing is just to avail opportunities and make it lucrative for them to represent the country.”
For athletes who qualify for major multi-sport games under the auspices of BNOC, the deal goes beyond just monetary incentives. Athletes will get code-specific competition kit, hospitality apparel, training wear, travel wear and podium uniforms as well as travel bags and back pack bags.
“For these athletes, more especially those not under any endorsements, this means they will be sorted for a year. They will not have to spend much on buying training or competition wear once they receive their kit.”
Meanwhile, Sitale further says the deal with Nike means the BNOC can now direct the monies towards team preparations. In the past, the BNOC used between five (5) and ten (10) percent of monies given to it towards preparations for team apparels. On average, this amounts to between P600 000 and P800 000 ‘depending on the team size.’
“With Nike now fully absorbing the team’s apparel costs, this allows BNOC to redirect crucial operational funding toward direct high-performance athlete preparation, training camps, and grassroots sports development.”
As Botswana gears towards the Los Angels (LA 28) Olympic Games and beyond, belief is that the now much improved incentives packages will wet the athletes’ appetite for glory.
