Botswana Athletics Association

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) is an IAAF recognised member officially representing Botswana as the national governing body for the sport of Athletics.

History

Less than six years after the independence of Botswana, the Botswana Athletics Association was formed at a mating at the Gaborone Secondary School on June 18, 1972. The organization was registered in June 1979, naming Lt. General Mompati Merafhe as its president. After he retired from the military, Merafhe became Botswana's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of Botswana from 2008 to 2012. The organization's responsibility covers the same broad umbrella of Athletics events as the world governing body, the IAAF, with the goal of athletes competing on the international stage.^[1]

The current president is Moses Bantsi.

Botswana athletes have found success in long sprinting and middle distance events; Nijel Amos won the first Olympic medal as a junior athlete, finishing with a silver medal in the 800 metres at the 2012 Olympics behind David Rudisha's world record. Amos remain the World Junior Recordholder from that performance. Amantle Montsho is the 2011 World Champion at 400 meters. Isaac Makwala is the seventh fastest 400 meter runner in history and he leads a promising 4x400 metres relay team that was in contention to medal at the 2016 Olympics until the closing steps of the race.

References

External links

National members of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
Africa CAA	Northern ALG LBA MAR TUN Western BEN BUR CPV CIV GAM GHA GUI GBS LBR MLI MTN NIG NGR SEN SLE TOG Eastern DJI EGY ERI ETH KEN SOM SSD SUD TAN UGA Central BDI CAF CGO CHA CMR COD GAB GEQ RWA STP Southern ANG BOT COM LES MAD MAW MOZ MRI NAM RSA SEY SWZ ZAM ZIM
Asia AAA	AFG BRN BAN BHU BRU CAM CHN HKG IND INA IRI IRQ JPN JOR KAZ KUW KGZ LAO LIB MAC MAS MDV MGL MYA NEP PRK OMA PAK PLE PHI QAT KSA SIN KOR SRI SYR TJK THA TLS TKM TPE UAE UZB VIE YEM
Europe EAA	ALB AND ARM AUT AZE BLR BEL BIH BUL CRO CYP CZE DEN EST ESP FIN FRA GEO GER GIB GBR GRE HUN ISL IRL ISR ITA KOS LAT LIE LTU LUX MKD MLT MDA MON MNE NED NOR POL POR ROU RUS ǂ SMR SRB SVK SLO SWE SUI TUR UKR
North America NACAC	AIA ANT ARU BAH BAR BIZ BER IVB CAN CAY CRC CUB DMA DOM GRN GUA HAI HON JAM MEX MNT NCA PUR SKN LCA VIN ESA TTO TKS USA ISV
Oceania OAA	Western AUS GUM KIR MHL FSM NMI PNG NRU PLW SOL VAN Eastern ASA COK FIJ PYF NZL NFI SAM TGA TUV NCL† NIU†
South America CONSUDATLE	ARG BOL BRA CHI COL ECU GUY PAN PAR PER SUR URU VEN
Non-IAAF members	CUR GUF GLP MTQ NEV SXM
† = associate members, ǂ = suspended