Motlomelo Mareitumetse, known to those around her as Mrs Tlome, didn’t come to boxing young. She came to it later in life, through something as simple as daily exercise, and found herself drawn deeper and deeper in. What began as movement became commitment. Commitment became vocation. Today, at 52, she is a referee, judge, and member of the Women’s Commission at the Lesotho Boxing Association, standing in a sport that was not built with women like her in mind, and standing there with intention.
You are never too old to start. Being a woman in sport is no longer taboo. It is a space where we thrive.
Entering a Space Not Built for Her
Getting there wasn’t straightforward. Boxing in Lesotho is a male-dominated world, and Motlomelo entered it at a stage of life when most people are consolidating rather than starting over. Parents viewed the sport with suspicion – boxing was seen as dangerous, and the presence of a woman in an officiating role was not always welcomed without question. Trust, she learned, is built through time and through the visible presence of female leaders.
What kept her going was people who believed in her before she had the results to back it up – her niece and two friends who encouraged her when she was just beginning. That early support made all the difference.
In her community in Maseru, sport is a constant presence – children gathering after school on open ground to play, talent visible everywhere. But opportunity doesn’t match potential. Few children live close to a boxing club. Proper facilities are scarce. Training sessions run late into the afternoon, raising safety concerns for young people trying to get home. The infrastructure hasn’t caught up with the energy that exists.
What the Pathway Opened Up
When Motlomelo was invited to take part in the Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway, it marked a turning point – not just in what she knew, but in how she understood her role. “Zeal without knowledge can be dangerous,” she reflects. True impact, she came to understand, requires professional boundaries, legal awareness, and the ability to work alongside medical and psychological experts.
What shifted most profoundly was how she sees the athletes she works with. Through the Pathway, she came to understand that unresolved personal struggles – things that happen at home, at school, in the community – don’t stay outside the gym. They come in with the athlete. Behaviours that might once have looked like defiance or aggression she now reads differently. “I learned that some behaviours, even bullying, are often cries for help from those who don’t know how to cope with their own pain.”
Body shaming, she says, is another harm she now names clearly. Attacking or calling out an athlete based on their appearance or struggles doesn’t toughen them up – it kills their spirit and their motivation for the sport they love.
The Pathway also gave her permission to acknowledge her own limits. “I don’t have to solve and handle every issue alone,” she says. “It is crucial to involve professionals where required – whether in health, law, or psychology.” That shift, from feeling like she had to have all the answers to knowing when to bring in support, has fundamentally changed how she operates.
Looking Ahead
Motlomelo’s vision is clear and wide. She wants to see boxing reach every district in Lesotho – with proper equipment, qualified coaches, referees, and judges. She is working toward becoming a qualified international boxing referee herself, and toward a broader role in sport and women’s leadership.
She is also committed to taking what she learned to the grassroots level – working with the Ministry of Early Childhood Education to embed safeguarding in sport from the earliest stages. And she wants to see more women in leadership across coaching, advocacy, and medicine. “These spaces belong to us as much as anyone else,” she says.
For anyone hesitating, her message is direct and personal:
Dream it, pursue it, and do it. I am living proof that you can evolve into the version of yourself you were meant to reach.
SUCCEED Series: Stories of Impact
This story is featured as part of SUCCEED Stories, through the SUCCEED Framework. SUCCEED (Supporting Communities Empowerment & Development through Sport for All) is a global framework dedicated to fostering community empowerment and development through capacity building in Sport for All. Led by TAFISA in collaboration with the IOC through its Olympism365 strategy, SUCCEED aims to provide a unified and synergistic approach towards building the capacity of Sport for All stakeholders.