Amantle is back on track

The start of August this week heralded the Second Coming for erstwhile world 400m champion Amantle Montsho, who yesterday expressed delight at finally being able to challenge for honours on the international athletics track after serving a two-year ban from the sport.

Montsho’s suspension after testing positive for banned methylhexaneamine at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland meant she could not participate in any athletics event sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), but with the ban ending on August 1, the athlete once dubbed ‘The Golden Girl’ by Batswana is raring to go again.

She admits however that hers is not going to be a smooth journey as she has lost a lot of training time while her peers were busy on the competitive track for two years. “Although I did some work on my own, it was not the same and up to standard as I had no one against whom to test my strength. The ban was such that I could not mingle anywhere on the track with other active athletes,” she told The Midweek Sun yesterday.

So serious was her situation that just when she had approached athletics coach Justice Dipeba to assist her, word was quickly brought down to her that she was violating the terms of her punishment. “Justice had agreed to help me and I was working with him at the UB Stadium track, but I was instructed to stop working with him or anybody under the wing of both the local and international athletics bodies. This affected my training and it now means I have to triple my efforts if I am to reach championship fitness again,” she said.

Her target for now, is to reach the finals of the London World Championships slated for next year, where she says she will even be happy to finish in the top three. “Yes a top three finish will be an achievement for me given my poor fitness, but I will still be happy to reach the event’s final,” Montsho stated.
But Montsho won’t stay long on the track. Her plan is to retire after the World Championships, to focus on her property business and to start a family.

She tells The Midweek Sun that at age 33 she feels the time has come for her to start focusing on herself as a human being, to enjoy life away from the hustle and bustle of athletics while settling down to family life. “I want to enjoy normal life and raise a family like everybody else. I have always told myself that I would not be running beyong the age of 34, and with or without the ban, I am sticking to that. Some say I still have four to six more years on my career looking at the many athletes like Maria Mutola who retired in their forties, but I have made up my mind I am retiring earlier,” she said.

The star runner says she has moved on with her life despite the setbacks that came with the ban, top of which she was unceremoniously dumped by her Italian manager of six years. “He approached me in Ethiopia way back in 2008 to become my manager. This was after I had won a Gold medal at the African Championships in Addis Ababa. We worked together very well until the day I failed my doping test. He stopped talking to me after that and all my efforts of contacting him bore no fruit until I gave up. To date, he has not spoken to me,” she disclosed.

Not that she has a care about the matter anymore, she has moved on and although she could not dwell on details, she said she could be working with a new manager based in South Africa. “This is a person who at least had been talking to me for some time during the ban, and I am hoping we could work together going forward as he has been supportive,” Montsho told The Midweek Sun.

She concedes that the ban has given her lessons that have made her a stronger person. She is using her experience to advise the younger athletes with whom she shares a lot on doping issues. The notion that ‘when times are hard friends are few’ rings true for her. Although she holds no grudges, she remains irked by the fact that the people from whom she had expected morale support deserted her, among whom are the leadership of sport in the country, including at the BNSC although she remains thankful for having been allowed to use their gym without pay. Her sponsors, Nike, also deserted her after the ban, which put a dent to her earnings. She has no intention of reuniting with her former manager.