400-metre runner, Lydia Jele, who has signed a deal with Nike.
Jele joins Baboloki Thebe, Karabo Sibanda, Isaac Makwala and Nijel Amos, who are also under the Nike stable.
Nike seems to have seen something special from Botswana athletes given that it has recently signed a five-year deal with Botswana Athletics Association (BAA).
This comes after BAA spent five years without a technical sponsor after their deal with Puma came to an end.
Jele, who is currently in Italy, said she was happy to have finally managed to find a technical sponsorship with a leading sportswear brand.
Jele said she was happy for this opportunity and that it’s an exciting time for her career adding that she has always loved the Nike brand. She said Nike would provide her with training apparels and kit and the deal is for the period until 2020, subject to renewal.
Jele, who is managed by South Africa-based, Peet van Zyl, said she would now focus more on training and competing without getting worried about where she would get money for training attire like she used to do.
Her coach, Justice Dipeba expressed happiness that her athletes were finally managing to get support from such companies as Nike in the form of competition and training kit.
“At the moment it is not something big, they still want to see what she can do on track so that they can sign even a bigger deal,” Dipeba said.
Dipeba said with Nike on board Jele would now focus on the competition without getting worried about things like spikes being worn out
