WINDHOEK: Coach Henk Botha, the trainer of Namibia's 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games silver medallist in the women's 200-metre (m) sprint expressed hope to see Christine Mboma qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.World Athletics banned Namibia's sensational female sprinter Mboma from athletics in April 2023 due to her high testosterone levels.The governing body announced that female athletes with differences in sexual development, resulting in naturally occurring high testosterone levels, would need to reduce their blood testosterone to below 2.5 nanomoles per litre (nmol/l) for a minimum of 24 months to be eligible to compete again.However, in November 2023, World Athletics approved Mboma to compete in the 100m and 200m events, but not in the 400m, 800m, and 1 500m. Since then, Botha and Mboma have been training hard to prepare for the 2024 athletics season.Botha in a recent interview, told Nampa that their first competition for the year would hopefully be in Europe in April, as Mboma would be eligib le to run at that time.'Despite the hard training we have been going through, Mboma is not yet at her competitive best, but we are hopeful that she will be ready to compete come April,' he said.The coach added that there is pressure on them to qualify for the Olympics as the nation has high expectations, noting that achieving this goal would not be easy.'We are optimistic about our chances of qualifying when we start with competitive athletics and we would like this to be done earlier so it gives us enough time to prepare for the games,' said Botha.Over 1,800 athletes, both men and women, will be competing for qualification for the 48 medal events (25 in track, five in road - marathon and racewalking, 16 in the field, and two in combined) at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.The qualification window for the marathon races started from 01 November 2022 to 30 April 2024; for the 10,000 metres, combined events (heptathlon and decathlon), racewalks, and relays from 31 December 2022 to 30 June 2024; while the remaining athletics events started from 01 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.Mboma would need to clock 22.57 seconds in the 200m and 11.07 seconds in the 100m to reach the qualifying standards for this year's Olympic Games.Source: The Namibia Press AgencyThe Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, through its Youth and After School Programme, is calling for unemployed youth, aged between 18 and 25, to apply to be part of the Year Beyond Youth Service Programme for 2024.Applications for the education programmes are now open for youth living in the Western and Eastern Cape who meet the criteria.All the education programmes require a matric certificate and some require minimum marks for language or maths.The Year Beyond platform offers young people the opportunity to get a year of hands on working experience and build their work readiness competencies, while also giving back to their communities.Commonly known as YeBoneers, successful applicants will be placed either at a school or community hub where they will assist learners and parents.The Eastern Cape programme is run with funding from the national government and facilitated by the Western Cape Year Beyond team.'The opportunity to provide youth in the Eastern Cape with this experi ence is an important part of skills development beyond the Western Cape,' the statement read.According to the provincial department, the success of the programme is evident as seen from the feedback received from previous years.Citing the data, the department said 96% of participants believe the experience helped them to get to know themselves better and 95% feel the programme prepared them better for the world of work and study.Meanwhile, between 75% and 78% of YeBoneers have progressed to becoming economically active in the world of employment or study, or a combination of the two, upon finishing the programme.'I encourage our young people to apply for this opportunity. It is a great programme for our youth which equips them with skills for entering the world of work or study. We want to give our youth a hand up to become successful and active members of society who contribute not only to the economy but also serve their communities,' said Western Cape MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marai s.Applications and further information on the education streams are now open via the website: https://www.yearbeyond.org/apply.Source: South African Government News Agency