Johan Botha

Johan Botha (born 10 January 1974) is a South African middle-distance runner who won the gold medal over 800 metres at the World Indoor Championships in Athletics in Maebashi in 1999. In the course of the race he defeated world record holder Wilson Kipketer and Nico Motchebon in a winning time of 1:45.47. In the same season he ran his indoor personal best of 1:45.45 in Stuttgart. At the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon Botha came close to defending his title but was defeated by future Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy and won silver.

Outdoors he won a bronze medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He reached the semifinals of the World Championships in 1999 and again at the Olympic Games in 2000. His outdoor personal best was 1:43.91, set in June 1999 in Oslo. Botha also has a personal best of 3:36:30 on the 1500 m, which he ran in the Netherlands during 2000.

Competition record Representing 1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 18th (sf) 800 m 1:48.06 1998 Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3rd 800 m 1:44.57 4th relay 3:02.21 1999 World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 1st 800 m 1:45.47 World Championships Seville, Spain 23rd (sf) 800 m 1:49.71 All-Africa Games Johannesburg, South Africa 6th 800 m 1:47.31 2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 11th (sf) 800 m 1:45.49 2001 World Indoor Championships Lisbon, Portugal 2nd 800 m 1:46.42