Letsile Tebogo wins the 200m title at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
Letsile Tebogo made history for Botswana at the Paris 2024 Games on Thursday (8), winning the first Olympic gold medal for his nation in any sport.
Storming to the 200m title, he held off USA’s Kenny Bednarek and 100m champion Noah Lyles with an African record of 19.46 – a time that moves the 21-year-old to fifth on the world all-time list.
Bednarek got silver in 19.62 and Lyles bronze in 19.70 – the fastest ever time for third place in any race – as the pair repeated their medal-winning positions from Tokyo three years ago.
Their US teammate Erriyon Knighton, a two-time world medallist, finished fourth in 19.99, as Dominican Republic's Alexander Ogando was fifth. Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba finished sixth and eighth respectively for Zimbabwe, the first time the nation has had two sprinters in an Olympic 200m final. They were separated by Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh in seventh.
Tebogo had looked focused as he walked out on to the track, while Bednarek encouraged cheers from the crowd and Lyles bounded out, jumping up and down.
Tebogo lined up in lane seven, with Bednarek to his right and Knighton, then Lyles, to his left. As they blasted out of the blocks and then reached the curve, Tebogo was slightly ahead of his US rivals. He continued to pull away and had time to celebrate on his approach to the finish line, looking up at the screen and then thumping his chest.
Following the race, with his national flag draped over his shoulders, Tebogo took off one of his spikes and held it up to the camera. Dedicating his win to his mother Seratiwa, who died in May, the shoe featured her date of birth in tribute.
“It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field,” he said. "She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy. I didn’t want to put the date of her death, because I’ll get emotional.
“It was really a beautiful race for me,” he added. “When we made it to the final, my coach just told me: ‘Now my job is done, it’s up to you to see what you can do. Whether it’s a medal or not, just finish the race healthy.’ That’s all I could have wished for. I’m happy I finished the race healthier than before.”
His time was a PB by 0.04, improving his own African record set in London last year.
“It means a lot to the African continent because now they see Africa as a sprinting home," he continued. "So, we just had to make sure that the message is loud and clear."
While happy to gain another medal, the runner-up finish left Bednarek motivated for more.
“This year, I’m finally healthy. I can build off this," he said. "There’s also the World Championships next year. I’m going to be dangerous. I expect big things in the next four years."
Four days on from his 100m victory in Paris, Lyles wasn’t able to immediately celebrate his second medal as he was helped off the track in a wheelchair. He later explained that he had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday.
"I still wanted to run, it was still possible, we just stayed away from everybody," Lyles said. "I knew that if I wanted to come out here and win, I had to give everything I have from the get-go. I didn’t have any time to save energy. That was the strategy."
The six-time world champion had started Paris 2024 with a 200m win streak that dated back to the Eugene Diamond League in August 2021 – his first race after the Tokyo Olympic Games. The 27-year-old won his heat in Paris, but then Tebogo handed him his first defeat after 26 consecutive victories, beating him in the semifinals.
Tebogo repeated the feat in the final, becoming the first African man to win the Olympic 200m title and claiming his nation’s third ever Olympic medal, a maiden gold.
He succeeded Canada’s Andre De Grasse as the Olympic champion, with De Grasse's defence coming to an end in the semifinals. He later explained that after the 200m heats, he "reactivated a lingering issue" in his hamstring.
Tebogo, who finished sixth in the 100m final, adds his Olympic gold to the two world medals – 100m silver and 200m bronze – he claimed in Budapest last year. That senior success followed the four medals he gained at the past two editions of the World U20 Championships, as he claimed 100m gold and 200m silver in both 2021 and 2022.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
| MEN'S 200m MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Letsile Tebogo (BOT) | 19.46 AR |
| 🥈 | Kenny Bednarek (USA) | 19.62 |
| 🥉 | Noah Lyles (USA) | 19.70 |
| Full results | ||
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