Montsho was born in
Maun,
Ngamiland. She has competed at the
2004 Olympic Games, the
2006 Commonwealth Games and the World Championships in
2005 and
2007 without reaching the finals. She won the silver medal at the
2006 African Championships and the gold medal at the
2007 All-Africa Games. At the All-Africa Games, she also finished fifth in the
200 metres. At the
2006 IAAF World Cup she finished sixth with the African
4 × 400 metres relay team. She ran a personal best and
Botswana record of 49.83 seconds to win at the
2008 African Championships in Athletics. It remains the
Championship record for the event. She ran at the
2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships but did not reach the final after a poor showing in the semifinal. Montsho reached her first world final at the
2008 Beijing Olympics, but her time of 51.18 left her in the last position. The following year, she ran 49.89 in the semifinals at the
2009 World Championships in Athletics, which was enough to make the
final round of the 400 m. She ran slower in the final than in the semis and finished last. She ended the year with a fifth-place finish at the
2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. to become
Botswana's first World or Olympic track and field champion in 2011. The 2010 season brought her a series of major titles: she came close to the podium at the
2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships: having set indoor national records in the heats and semi-finals, she was beaten to the bronze medal by
Vania Stambolova. She opened her outdoor season with her third fastest ever 400 m run, winning the
Gabriel Tiacoh meet in a time of 50.35 seconds – almost two seconds ahead of her training partner
Ndeye Fatou Soumah who was next to finish. She defended her continental title by winning the 400 m at the
2010 African Championships in Athletics with a season's best run of 50.03 seconds. On the
2010 Diamond League circuit, she won at the
Bislett Games and was ranked second overall in the 400 m behind
Allyson Felix. Montsho ran her fastest time of the year at the
2010 Continental Cup where, representing Africa, she beat
Debbie Dunn to win the
gold medal in 49.89 seconds. She extended her season further to compete at the
2010 Commonwealth Games. There she became Botswana's first-ever gold medallist at the Games by winning the 400 m with a
Games record time of 50.10 seconds. She then helped the Botswana team to the
4 × 400 m relay final, but they finished in seventh place. At the
2011 World Championships in Athletics in South Korea, in the
400 metres final, she narrowly beat
Allyson Felix to become
Botswana's first World or Olympic track and field champion.
At the 2012 Olympics final she placed 4th with 49.75 seconds. At the
2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, she was run down in the final metres by
Christine Ohuruogu of the
400 metres final, losing by just four-thousandths of a second when Ohuruogu dipped and Montsho remained upright. She won a gold medal at the
2018 Commonwealth Games in
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia when she and fellow athlete
Isaac Makwala made history by being the first athletes from the same country to win both the 400 m women and mens in the same Commonwealth Games event. == Doping ban ==