Artists in Botswana capture World Athletics Relays through live painting

The athletes and spectators have gone but the five artists selected to record the event are still working, putting the finishing touches on their paintings. 

They were chosen to participate in the Live Painting Experience at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Gaborone.

The relays came to a close on Sunday after three days of record-breaking firsts, including a spectacular win in the men's 4X400 meters for host nation, Botswana. 

And throughout the weekend, the artists watched and painted from the stands. 

"This whole idea was centered around the concept of sport and art. Sport meets art," says artist Gomolemo Kgosimodimo.

"So it was just to capture the excitement, the energy, you know, the joy of the event."

Live painting is a form of performance art where artists undertake their work in public. The act of painting is as much part of the artwork as the finished piece. 

"Cameras and smartphones capture moments like this," says Joe De, another artist at the stadium on Sunday. "Us, we capture it using brushes, canvas and paint."

"You capture the movement, the anatomy of them, you focus on the features, the fitness, the muscles, those kinds of areas," says artist Bezuba Kaunda. "Capture them properly, then you make the movement, with the quick sketch."  

Organisers of the event say the idea is to capture history through art.

For Kaunda, the races themselves are art in motion — performance art he captures in his work:

"I believe athletes are artists, other form of art because art is too much, it's not only drawing or doing it. Also running is art, how you run is art, how you build your body is art."

The weekend's World Athletics Relays in Botswana were the first to take place on the African continent. 

And the wins, the losses, and the cheers were all recorded one brushstroke at a time.