Bigboy Matlapeng

Bigboy Josie Matlapeng (born 4 February 1958) is a Botswanan long-distance runner and sprinter. He competed in the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Bigboy Matlapeng

Personal information
Nationality	Botswanan
Born	(1958-02-04) 4 February 1958 (age 67)
Sport
Sport	Long-distance running
Event	Marathon

Career

Matlapeng had a marathon personal best of 2:33:34 hours going into the 1984 Olympic marathon.^[2] He was described sarcastically as a "household name" by commentators, mocking his unusual-sounding name in the "wonderfully monikered" field.^[3][4][5] He started the Olympic marathon, but did not finish the race.^[6]

By 1986, Matlapang had improved his marathon best to 2:17:47, setting a Botswanan record and making him a favorite to break the course record at the 1986 Churchdown 10-mile Beer Race in Gloucestershire.^[7] Though he underperformed at the Beer Race, he was selected to represent Botswana at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in the marathon, where he placed 14th.^[8][9] Surprisingly, Matlapeng moved down in distance by a factor of over 100 times to compete in the Botswanan 4 × 400 m relay team after the marathon, though his team was disqualified and didn't advance to the finals.^[10] Matlapeng's performance in such disparate events led to debate about the seriousness of the Commonwealth Games.^[11]

Matlapeng qualified for his first World Championships at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, where he competed in the marathon. He finished 29th in a time of 2:24:43 and was again lauded for his name.^{[12][13][14][15]} At the 1988 Olympic Games marathon, Matlapeng finished 34th in 2:20:51. He competed again at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in the marathon, finishing 14th again.^[13]

Matlapeng competed at the 1987 and 1989 editions of the World Marathon Cup, finishing 66th and 57th respectively.^[16]