Stars of SPRINT: Letsile Tebogo

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Letsile Tebogo’s 200m triumph at the Olympic Games in Paris was the latest in a series of global medal-winning performances by the 21-year-old.

In claiming his half-lap crown in the French capital, Tebogo won a first ever Olympic gold medal in any sport for Botswana.

Holding off Kenny Bednarek and the Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles, Tebogo clocked an African record of 19.46 – a time that moved him to fifth on the world all-time list.

It followed his sixth-place finish in the 100m final and he went on to form part of Botswana’s silver medal-winning men’s 4x400m team.

He added those honours to the two world medals – 100m silver and 200m bronze – he claimed in Budapest in 2023. That senior success followed the four medals he gained at the previous two editions of the World U20 Championships, as he claimed 100m gold and 200m silver in both 2021 and 2022. He also formed part of Botswana’s victorious 4x400m team at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24 in May.

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But it was his Olympic 200m win that meant the most, and he dedicated it to his mother Seratiwa, who died in May. His shoes featured her date of birth in tribute.

“It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field,” said Tebogo, who also ran a world 300m best of 30.69 in Pretoria and claimed Diamond League wins in Monaco, Lausanne, Silesia, Rome and Zurich in 2024. “She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy.”

On the significance of his win, he added: “It means a lot to the African continent because now they see Africa as a sprinting home. So, we just had to make sure that the message is loud and clear.”

Watch more from the stars of SPRINT on Inside Track.