After defeating Noah Lyles at Paris 2024, Letsile Tebogo receives major honor from ANOC for winning Botswana's maiden Olympic gold medal

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Oct 31, 2024 01:10 GMT

Letsile Tebogo received the honor of 'Best Male Athlete of Paris 2024' at the ANOC Awards. The athlete from Botswana clinched his the country's first-ever gold medal after registering an incredible performance in the men's 200m as he defeated American athletes Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek to embark on the Olympic throne.

Letsile Tebogo began the 2024 season in great form and emerged as one of the top prospects for the sprint double at the Paris Olympics. He won the gold medal in the men's 4x400m event at the World Athletics relays held in the Bahamas while putting forward podium-winning performances at the Los Angeles Grand Prix and the London Diamond League before marching onto the Paris Olympics.

The 23-year-old participated in the men's 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m in his debut appearance at the quadrennial games in Paris. Tebogo finished sixth in the men's 100m finals after clocking 9.86s in the final. He then competed in the men's 200m against a highly competitive line-up that included Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton among others.

Letsile Tebogo dominated the line-up to win his first-ever Olympic gold medal with a performance of 19.46 and etched his name in the history books by becoming the first athlete from Botswana to win the gold medal at the quadrennial Games. He was also a part of the team that won the silver medal in the 4x400m relay.

After the quadrennial games, he was named the 'Best Male Athlete of Paris 2024' at the ANOC Awards.

He spoke about the incredible achievement and said:

"Firstly, we believed in what we were doing. We had set the goal for the 200m gold medal because it's not too tactical and we locked in and went for it."

Letsile Tebogo on missing out on the gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics

Letsile Tebogo during the Paris 2024 Olympics. - Source: Getty

In a post-race interview, Letsile Tebogo spoke about missing out on the gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the quadrennial games in the French capital. The 21-year-old revealed how he felt slightly disappointed in being unable to win the gold despite having the potential.

“I am proud of what I did at the Olympics because it was something that was stuck in my mind, helping the guys get a silver medal. We had always dreamed of getting a relay medal at the Olympics. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the gold but I had to make sure that we had at least a medal for the 4x400m because we had that potential, and the other teams were scared of Botswana. We still want that gold medal!" he said.

Furthermore, he expressed his desire to win the gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the upcoming edition of the Olympic games in 2028.