10 Things You Didn’t Know About Tshotlego Morama
Tshotlego Morama is one of the most celebrated athletes we have ever had. Although his career was a short lived one he is still engraved in the hearts of sports lovers in the country.
1. Tshotlego Morama was born in Lethakane in 1987.
2. Morama who has no right palm (not arm), became the darling of the nation as she beat the odds to become a celebrated athlete.
3. Representing Botswana at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, she won gold in the women’s 400m sprint in the T46 disability category, setting a new world record in the process, with a time of 55.99.
4. She remains the first athlete ever to have represented Botswana at the Paralympics, and is the only one who came with a medal.
5. From a high flier as an Olympic paralympian of note, Morama’s career went down in a national furore of controversy, after allegations in 2007 that ‘she’ fathered a child.
6. The then BNSC chairperson Dorcas Makgato Malesu and the Gazette Editor, Batlhalefi Leagajang engaged in bitter exchanges yesterday at a press conference called to end the dispute over Morama’s gender.
7. Last February the High Court ruled that he could officially transition into a man, putting to rest a lifelong struggle with his gender expression.
8. Tshotlego Morama is now officially a man going by the name Paul Morama.
9. Paul is now well settled into his identity as a man and while he has ruled out a return to active competition, he plans to contribute to sports development by establishing a sports academy
10. He is now an employee at Botswana National Sports Council,administrating what he love most, which is sport.