Amantle Montsho (born July 4, 1983) is a female sprinter from

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

who specializes in the 400 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the final at the latter edition. She was the first woman to represent Botswana at the Olympics. She has also competed at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

and the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

, and is the former World Champion over the 400m, winning in a personal best time of 49.56 in Daegu. Montsho was suspended for 2 years for an anti-doping rule violation after the she tested positive for

methylhexaneamine Methylhexanamine (also known as methylhexamine, 1,3-dimethylamylamine, 1,3-DMAA, dimethylamylamine, and DMAA; trade names Forthane and Geranamine) is an indirect sympathomimetic drug invented and developed by Eli Lilly and Company and marketed a ...

at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.Duncan Mackay
Montsho banned for two-years after positive drugs test at Glasgow 2014
insidethegames.biz, 18 March 2015Xinhua

china.org.cn, 18 March 2015 A two-time African Championships gold medallist over 400 m, she has also won titles in the event at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nig ...

, the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

and the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

. Her Commonwealth win made her Botswana's first-ever gold medallist of the games. Her personal best times are 11.60 seconds in the 100m, 22.89 seconds in the 200m and 49.33 seconds in the 400m. She trains at the High Performance Training Centre in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

, and She holds the national record for the 400 m both indoors and outdoors.

Career

Montsho was born in Maun, Ngamiland. She has competed at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the World Championships in 2005 and 2007 without reaching the finals. She won the silver medal at the 2006 African Championships and the gold medal at the

. At the All-Africa Games, she also finished fifth in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. At the 2006 IAAF World Cup she finished sixth with the African

4x400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

team. She ran a personal best and Botswana record of 49.83 seconds to win at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics. It remains the Championship record for the event. She ran at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships but did not reach the final after a poor showing in the semifinal. Montsho reached her first world final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but her time of 51.18 left her in last position. The following year, she ran 49.89 in the semifinals at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

which was enough to make the final round of the 400 m. She ran slower in the final than she did in the semis and finished last as a result. She ended the year with a fifth-place finish at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. Montsho Felix Daegu 2011

The 2010 season brought her a series of major titles: she came close to the podium at the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation ...

: having set indoor national records in the heats and semi-finals, she was beaten to the bronze medal by Vania Stambolova. She opened her outdoor season with her third fastest ever 400 m run, winning the

Gabriel Tiacoh Gabriel Tiacoh (February 9, 1963 – April 2, 1992) was a sprinter from Côte d'Ivoire who specialised in the 400 metres. He is best known for winning his nation's first Olympic medal, in the 400 meters in 1984. A former African recor ...

meet in a time of 50.35 seconds – almost two seconds ahead of her training partner Ndeye Fatou Soumah who was next to finish. She defended her continental title by winning the 400 m at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics with a season's best run of 50.03 seconds. On the 2010 Diamond League circuit she won at the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bisl ...

and was ranked second overall in the 400 m behind Allyson Felix. Montsho ran her fastest time of the year at the 2010 Continental Cup where, representing Africa, she beat Debbie Dunn to win the gold medal in 49.89 seconds. She extended her season further to compete at the

. There she became Botswana's first-ever gold medallist at the Games by winning the 400 m with a Games record time of 50.10 seconds. She then helped the Botswana team to the

4×400 m relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

final, but they finished in seventh place. At the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

in South Korea, in the 400 metres final, she narrowly beat Alyson Felix to become

's first World or Olympic track and field champion. At the 2012 Olympics final she placed 4th with 49.75 seconds. At the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

in Moscow, she was run down in the final metres by Christine Ohuruogu of the 400 metres final, losing by just four-thousandths of a second when Ohuruogu dipped and Montsho remained upright. She won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia when she and fellow athlete Isaac Makwala made history by being the first athletes from the same country to win both the 400m women and mens in the same Commonwealth Games event. 400 m Women Meeting Areva 2009

Doping ban

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games Montsho failed a routine drugs test. Subsequently, this finding was confirmed by the results of her 'B' sample which also tested positive for the stimulant

. In March 2015 Botswana Athletics Association handed her a 2-year ban from sports.

Education

Amantle Montsho has schooled in Bonatla Primary School in Maun.

International competitions

References

External links