The Botswana-born and bred athlete also known in the track as ‘bad-man’, has continually raised the flag of his country. In the 2014/2015 season, MAKWALA broke his personal best (45.25 seconds) more than 10 times in the same season. MAKWALA made international headlines in 2014 at his favourite La Chaux-de-Fonds track in Switzerland. He ran 44.01 to break the 400m African record from the Congolese-Gary Kikaya. Ninety minutes later, MAKWALA ran another PB and a national record in the 200m (19.96), becoming the fastest ever double in one day. The South African Wayde van NIEKERK broke MAKWALA’S African record in 2015. Twenty-four hours later, MAKWALA unrelentingly regained his African 400m record running 43.72, making him the fastest non-US 400m sprinter in history, and moving him to fifth on the world all-time list.
Watch the announcement here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Z9UKqbnMY
As his career rose to greater heights, the world saw the athlete in what he termed his ‘best form’, run a solo run at the 2017 World Athletics Championships , as the first athlete to ever run a solo race in the history of the sport. Makwala met the set qualification standard in the solo race, completing within the set 20.53 at an incredible 20.20 and reaching the 200m final. He proceeded to win the 2017 Diamond League Trophy and a silver medal at the World Relays.
Makwala continued to rise in 2018, seizing a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Gold coast. In 2020, he walked away with a bronze medal at the World Relays, and a subsequent bronze relay medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 held in 2021.
Upon reflecting on that historical moment in 2017 when he ran solo, he reverts by saying “I decided that I came to run. I did not come to beat people- I came to beat myself”.
Isaac ‘bad-man’ Makwala is truly a man of honour driven by hard work, determination, integrity, and a quest to surpass himself at every point of his career and in every race. He is a man that runs solo in mind as well as on the track.
The Solo Runner; The Untold Story of Isaac Makwala is a journey of hope, a narration of focus and determination. This is a story of not looking back, of maintaining a one-track mind to achieve your ultimate desires despite your background and in spite of the odds that may be placed before you.
“Since I joined the national athletics team, I told myself that I am not looking back. I told myself that ‘this is my job’ and I have to focus on it because I did not do well in academics. I was determined and I focused on it fully.”
This is an impactful story of a Kalanga warrior with a one-track mind, a man with a hunger to win, fed by the cheer of the crowd. The journey of a man who strives to beat only himself and cross the finish line as fast as he can. This book narrates all that this athletic giant is about and elaborates on what it takes to leave a legacy formed on nothing but sheer will.
Asked about his book, he simply responded, “I want people to know my story from way back, what motivated me and where I come from, especially children. I want people to know that not only education can make you, but even sports can also make you.”
“As a child, I was not good at athletics and I was not the best, I was more into football. I only took athletics seriously when I was 23 years old. I was surprised to see myself as one of the fastest guys in the world. But I was not too surprised because my hard work was top-notch. I thank God that he gave me the talent and protected me throughout my career.”- Isaac ‘bad-man’ Makwala (The Solo Runner).
BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: The Solo Runner
Biography of superstar athlete, Isaac Makwala.
AUTHOR: Dr Tshepang Tshube.
NB: Dr Tshepang Tshube is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sport Science at the University of Botswana. Dr Tshube has a personal relationship with Isaac Makwala in that they shared the track for a time as teammates in the national athletics team and where after he later traveled with him as a team sports psychologist.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Botswana: Shaka Senwamadi, felistus@milleniapublishing.co.za, +267 72 894 444
SA & International: Victoria Nickisson, victoria@milleniapublishing.co.za, +27 813062828
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