‘SWAZI BOLT-S’ TO HISTORY

MBABANE – “I made history.”

This is how 200m sprinter Sibusiso ‘Swazi Bolt’ Matsenjwa described his sensational performance in the Tokyo Olympic Games yesterday. His performance in the 200m race saw him breaking the national record twice in 24 hours in Tokyo, Japan.
He broke the 20:47 seconds national record down to 20:34 seconds in heat eight and that performance earned him a spot in the semi-finals, where again he beat the earlier national record to 20:22 seconds. He is the first liSwati to reach the semi-finals of the Olympic Games in all sporting codes participated in. The 33-year-old’s performance in the games was never short of drama, especially in the first heat that was at 4am (Local time) and 11:40pm (Tokyo time). Matsenjwa was suspended for a false start in the first heat and the suspension was lifted 10 minutes later after a protest from the local delegation and coach Muzi Mabuza.

Suspension

The lifting of the suspension saw Matsenjwa making it back into heat eight of the 200m race and that is where he displayed a sterling performance that earned him accolades from all stakeholders including the government and the sporting fraternity.
Having qualified for the semi-finals with the record-breaking performance, Matsenjwa was back in the track 10 hours later (2pm, yesterday), where he faced rivals among the big names in the sport including Canada’s De Grasse A, United States of America (USA) Bednarek K and South Africa’s Shaun Maswanganyi among others. The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) Athletics Club athlete also displayed a breathtaking performance as he broke the national record he had set 10 hours earlier, bringing it down to 20:22 seconds. He missed out on qualifying for the finals to be held today. The two athletes who made it to the finals were Canada’s De Grasse A and United States of America’s (USA) Bednarek K, who both clocked less than 19 seconds.

Record

Matsenjwa went to the Olympics with the national record he clocked on April 13, 2021 in Lusaka, Zambia during the All Comers Meeting. He was making his third appearance in the Olympic Games, having debuted in the 2012 London Olympic Games and took part again in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympic Games. His performance was a grand closing for the country after the trio of swimmers Simanga Dlamini and Robyn Young, and boxer Thabiso Dlamini did not make it to the next stages of their events. “I am feeling great, excited about this achievement as I finished 11th in the world and 3rd in Africa,” he said about his rankings thereafter. Matsenjwa’s performance in the semis was also not a bad one but his rivals were just faster than him otherwise he also managed to bounce back after a slow start to finish ahead of three athletes. He was fifth according to the results out of eight athletes. His time was also a remarkable nine seconds better than the three behind him and also 0.49 seconds behind the champion, De Grasse.

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