Kapere, the next big thing

• By Michael Uugwanga

IT comes as no surprise that Kavango-East is home to another future track and field superstar in 15-year-old Dolphine Kapere, one of the country’s brightest young athletes in the 800m event.

Like current Olympic silver medalist and world U-20 record holder in the 400m, Christine ‘Katiku’ Mboma, Kapere also resides in Ndiyona Constituency in the region.

Kapere a pupil at Ndiyona Secondary School is highly rated by the same coach and teacher that discovered Mboma at Korokoko Combined School, John Likoro; sports officer in the Kavango-East region, Erastus Semeno; and Kavango-East region sport technical team leader Chester Mutangara.

Most promising young athletes from that area have been raised by their mothers, grandmothers, aunts or uncles, like Mboma, of which Kapere is no exception.

She also idolises Mboma and wants to follow in her footsteps as she continues to work hard in training.

Kapere was in the same Kavango-East team that conquered Windhoek at the youth national championships in 2019, where she scooped gold in the U-13 girls 800m race, while Mboma won gold in the 800m in the girls U-17.

Last weekend Kapere proved her mettle as she managed to help her school win silver at the U-17 inter-schools athletics and relay competition that took place in Windhoek.

“I started running when I was 12 and at that time my trainers were Sebastian Mangundu and Hyronmus Ngandu at Nyangana Combined School. My favourite heats are 800m and 400m.

Mboma is the athlete that has inspired me because we were in the same regional team when I was running in the under -13 and she was running in under-17, and yes she was the fastest.   

“It is my dream to follow in her footsteps and I am working towards reaching her level. I like running barefoot since at our school we have a sandy ground of which I am used to it,” said Kapere adding that she also plays netball.

“The inter-schools event was fun but I was not happy with my personal time as I believe I can do better but the team managed to take second place.”

Mutangara, who has seen lots of promising under-privileged athletes not furthering their athletics career due to lack of support, has said that Ndiyona constituency and its surrounding areas has raw talent worth investing in.