Lee Eppie delivers opening leg for Botswana’s 4x400m relay in Tokyo, Japan; world title won for Botswana.
400m African champion Lee Eppie exclusive: “My current coach believed in me when nobody did"
400m African champion Lee Eppie exclusive: “My current coach believed in me when nobody did"
After winning his first individual gold medal in the 400m, Botswana’s relay team player now has his sights set on bigger goals: “There’s more to do”
Lee Eppie speaks as if he’s in the middle of a mission, rather than someone who has already accomplished huge goals.
Take his comments after reaching his first World Athletics Championships 400m final at Tokyo 2025 for example.
“For me to make the final in my first World Championships, beating athletes who are always in Diamond League meetings and Olympic finals, it is a big thing. I feel like I have done something I always wanted to do…and there is more to come.”
That final line has followed him throughout his career. With Eppie, there is always more to come.
Men’s 4x400m Relay Final | Athletics | Olympic Games Paris 2024
The Men’s 4x400m Final took place at Stade de France, on 10
- The United States of America claimed Gold with a new Olympic Record time of 2:54.43mins., Botswana took Silver and Great Britain completed the podium.
Eppie’s journey began in Orapa, a mining town in Botswana.
Before the track, there was football. That was his first love. The game he played in the streets and school fields. But athletics slowly pulled him in, first as an option, then as a calling.
“I started realising I could make a career out of athletics when I was in Form 4,” he said. “That time I had made the national team at under-20 level. That is when it started to feel real.”
The early years were about exposure and experience. In 2016, he represented Botswana at the AUSC Games in Swakopmund. In 2019, he won bronze at the AUSC Games in Gaborone. In 2024, he stepped up again with silver at the African Championships. Each season added something. A lesson. A reminder. A sign that he was moving in the right direction.
World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 - Men’s 4 x 400m Relay Final - Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - September 21, 2025 Botswana’s Lee Bhekempilo Eppie is seen before the start of the final
I struggled in the US collegiate system - Lee Eppie
Progress was not linear for Eppie.
In 2022, he left Botswana for the United States collegiate system, joining the Mississippi State University track and field programme. It was meant to be a step forward.
Instead, it became a hardship.
“It didn’t work out for me,” Eppie said. “I went there for school and to compete, but I struggled.”
The system was demanding. Long seasons, constant travel, little recovery time. For a young athlete still developing his identity, it was overwhelming.
His childhood coach, Chilume Ntshwarang, saw what was happening.
“The college season is very long,” Ntshwarang explained to Business Weekly last year.
“We had to close the gaps that were affecting him.”
Eppie made a decision that changed everything. He came home.
Back in Botswana, he reunited with coach Johnson Kubisa, the man he often credits for shaping his early career, and continued his work with Ntshwarang.
“My current coach believed in me when nobody did," the runner said.
The focus shifted. Not just on training harder, but training smarter. Fixing details. Rebuilding confidence. Learning how to run fast again without forcing it.
The improvement came gradually. From 45 seconds to 44 seconds. From potential to consistency. From uncertainty to belonging in Botswana’s increasingly dominant 400m system.
It’s the same system that has made Botswana a powerhouse in the event.
The African nation are Olympic 4x400m silver medallists, world 4x400m gold medallists, the World Relays 4x400m champions, and Collen Kebinatshipi is the individual 400m world champion.
They join the ranks of other success stories, like Amantle Montsho, and Isaac Makwala .
Eppie had to earn his place in that environment, and doubted that he would.
“When I came back, I was nervous,” he said. “I was thinking, am I going to make the team?”
He did make the team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games , but played no part in their run to an unprecedented silver medal.
A year on after Paris, Eppie was no longer asking that question. He was answering it on the track. He delivered the opening leg of their 2025 world championship gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo**.**
In the relays, he often runs the first leg. It is not the most glamorous role, but it is one of the most important. He sets the tone. He absorbs pressure. He gives the team rhythm.
“We know if everyone does their job, we can win,” he said.
(L-R) Gold medalists Lee Bhekempilo Eppie, Letsile Tebogo, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Bayapo Ndori of Team Botswana pose for a photo with the national flags after winning the Men’s 4x400 Metres Relay Final on day nine of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 at National Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
Lee Eppie on finally achieving individual glory: “It feels amazing”
That mindset has helped Botswana produce some of the fastest relay performances in history.
At the World Relays 2025 in Gaborone , they delivered a championship-record run to win gold on home soil, a moment Eppie describes as unforgettable.
“It was crazy,” he said. “We wanted to break the world record at home. Running that time at that stage of the season was unbelievable.”
“But we cannot run a world record by ourselves. We need other teams to push us.”
For all the relay success, however, the missing piece was always individual glory.
That changed in Accra at the African Senior Athletics Championships.
After years of medals shared with teammates, Eppie finally stood alone on the top step of the podium with his first individual gold medal.
“I’ve never won an individual gold before,” he said. “I’ve won medals in relays, but this is different. To win here in Accra feels amazing.”
The comment is as simple as it is important. Because for an athlete who has always been part of something bigger, this was personal.
And as he says himself, there is always more to come.
23 July - 2 August
Commonwealth Games 2026 | Glasgow | United Kingdom