Leaname Maotoanong

Gaone Leaname Maotoanong was born in May 1991 in Shoshong, a village in the Central District of Botswana. His Commonwealth Games profile gives his date of birth as 9 May 1991, while World Athletics lists 7 May 1991. He was widely known in Botswana athletics by the nickname "Lux". He trained with the SSKB club and was coached by Justice Dipeba, developing into a sprinter who could race both 200 and 400 metres at international level.

Maotoanong's breakthrough came in 2014 at the African Championships in Marrakesh, where he reached the semi finals of the 200 metres and ran on the Botswana 4 x 400 metres relay team, with Pako Seribe, Nijel Amos and Isaac Makwala, that won gold in a national record of 3:01.89.

2015 was his best individual season. He set personal bests of 20.58 seconds for 200 metres and 45.63 seconds for 400 metres, the latter when winning silver behind Luguelin Santos at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. He also ran at the World Relays in Nassau, at the World Championships in Beijing, and at the African Games in Brazzaville, where he reached the 400 metres semi finals and won silver in the relay.

In 2016 he helped Botswana retain the African relay title in Durban and then ran at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where the 4 x 400 metres team set a national record of 2:59.35 in the heats before finishing fifth in the final in a further record of 2:59.06.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, he ran with Baboloki Thebe, Onkabetse Nkobolo and Isaac Makwala to win gold in 3:01.78, holding off the Bahamas. He later raced the 200 metres at the 2018 African Championships in Asaba and finished seventh in the 200 metres final at the 2019 African Games in Rabat. The Botswana Athletics Association also listed appearances at the 2017 World Relays and the 2019 World Championships in Doha.

Away from competition, Maotoanong served as a member of the Athletes' Commission of the Botswana National Olympic Committee from 2022 to 2025, according to the Botswana Athletics Association, contributing to work on athletes' interests and welfare. Details of his family life have not been made public.

The Botswana Athletics Association announced Maotoanong's death in a bereavement notice issued on 22 October 2026, describing it as sudden. He was 35. The place and cause of death were not made public in the first reports. The association extended condolences to his family, friends and teammates and said funeral arrangements would be communicated in due course.

Maotoanong belonged to the group of Botswana quarter milers, alongside Isaac Makwala, Nijel Amos, Baboloki Thebe, Karabo Sibanda and Onkabetse Nkobolo, who turned the country into a leading relay nation. He won two African titles, ran in an Olympic final, helped set national records and was part of Botswana's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in the men's 4 x 400 metres relay. The national federation remembered him as an athlete, leader, mentor and friend.