Now 4 gold medal girl wants Bots citizenship

Now 4 gold medal girl wants Bots citizenship
Thirteen-year-old
Kumakwane farm girl, Jenny Leppan, inspired Botswana swimming team to
victory in the 2011 CANA Zone 3 & 4 Championships and immediately
told Sport Monitor she wants the citizenship.



The talented four gold medal winner has not competed outside the country before despite her exploits.

As Botswana kept powerhouses Mauritius,
Zimbabwe, and South Africa at bay in the team championships, Botswana's
U-14 girl, Jenny, told Sport Monitor; " I am very happy. I have been
swimming for only two years now.

It is lovely to perform for your
country, it is an honour for me; I hope to acquire the citizenship of
Botswana soon; we have been in Botswana for 12 years now," said the girl
who also goes to school at Kairos Academy in Mogoditshane.

Jenny's dad, Andrew, told Sport Monitor
he is very proud, adding that they will make her dream come true by
putting in an application for citizenship for the swimmer.

"We will definitely do what is best for
her; we are putting in her application so she can continue to do it for
Botswana; it is the country of her pride."

Jenny's gold medals came from relay events. Two of the gold medals came from medley relay, 400m relay and the 200m relay.

All in all, Botswana raked in 14 gold
medals in the competition with local girl Pamelyn Beukes contributing to
Botswana four gold, a silver and bronze medals.

Local boy Martin Du Toit also broke
three records on Friday. He finished the championships with four
individual gold medals as well, as Botswana raked in a total of 14 Gold,
15 Silver, 15 Bronze and amassed 2373 points overall in the team event
to lift the trophy, in a highly competitive event that saw 37 new
championship records being set; 35 individual and 2 relay.

Despite the fact that Botswana is not
known to be a great swimming nation, many locals turned up for the
week-long gala held at the University of Botswana's Olympic-size
swimming pool where ten African nations participated.

When it came to individual performance
however, Mauritius was in a class of their own, amassing 44 Gold, 26
silver and 22 Bronze medals. South Africa, undoubtedly the swimming
powerhouse, also did better than Botswana in the events, grabbing 22
Gold, 20 silver, and 18 Bronze, but this being a team event, meant that
Botswana, which had representations in almost all the events, scored
points in the non-medal positions to win the championships.

Tournament organisers hailed the meet as
a success and said it was indicative of the raised standard of
competition within the region in terms of both organisation and swimming
standard. Botswana swimmer Martin Du Toit was in the mix on Friday as
he took his tally of new records to three on a highly competitive day
that saw 28 records tumble by the third day of the championships.

Mauritius' Elodie Poo Cheong was also
amongst the record breakers with three records under her belt, as well
as finishing inside three other previous records.

South African Sharne Dicks had also broken two records by Friday in the 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke.
The 2012 edition of this meet will be held in Mozambique.