AMANTLE Montsho hopes her historic achievement at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in South Korea will inspire many youngsters in Botswana to take up athletics as a career.

Montsho got her name in the history books after winning the 400m and bagging Botswana's first-ever gold medal of the championships.

Montsho, who is based at the IAAF High Performance Training Centre in Dakar, Senegal, said: "People in Botswana are happy with my performance; this is my biggest achievement.

"I hope winning this gold medal will inspire young athletes in Botswana where many of them look up to me as one of their role models.

"I think they will work hard (after watching) me winning the gold medal here," said the 28-year-old Montsho, whose passion for athletics was first sparked at primary school and continued into high school.

"Because we didn't have good coaches in Botswana, I moved to the training centre in Dakar."

Montsho set national records in the 400m for five straight years starting in 2005.

She came into the meet in Daegu with a career best of 49.89 seconds to her credit, but had to step up her game to beat America's Allyson Felix in a thrilling final stretch.

Her mark of 49.56 was not only a new best for Botswana but within striking distance of Falilat Ogunkoya's African record of 49.10, a time Montsho thinks she can beat.

Her first big breakthrough came in 2003 when she won the national 400m title in a personal best at the time of 55.03.

She competed in her first continental event later that year, the All Africa Games in Abuja, where she finished fourth in her heat. Montsho was selected for the IAAF Centre in Dakar after being spotted by the sprint coach there, Anthony Koffi, who was on a recruitment tour. - additional reporting by IAAF