Botswana set a new African recorded as it snatched a well-deserved bronze medal in the final of the men’s 4×400 metres relay at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
The Botswana quartet of Isaac Makwala, Zibane Ngozi, Bayapo Ndori and Baboloki Thebe clocked a sensational 2:57.27 minutes, beating their own African record of 2:58.33 that they had set in the qualifying heats on Friday.
The previous African record was 2:58.68 that was set by Nigeria at the Sydney Olympics in Australia in 2000.
“We ran another national record again today. We gave it all,” Makwala told reporters after Saturday’s race.
The United States took the gold medal, with a scintillating run of 2:55.70, while the Netherlands took the silver medal in a national record time of 2:57.18.
JN/APA