"Fred Kerley was there for me during my hard times" - Letsile Tebogo opens up on the American's persistent support and their friendship

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Sep 15, 2024 07:22 GMT

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The unique friendship between Olympic champion sprinter Letsile Tebogo and Olympic bronze medalist in 100m Fred Kerley proves that sports and sportsmanship know no borders. The sprinter from Botswana recently opened up on how the American sprinter has helped him, especially during his hard times.

Wanda Diamond League recently uploaded a short documentary titled 'UNSCRIPTED: Final - Brussels, 2024' on their YouTube channel. They had a word with a couple of athletes, including Letsile Tebogo, who opened up on the upcoming challenges, as well as his friendship with Fred Kerley.

To quote Tebogo [from 6:50 onwards],

"I mean, with Fred, I know we are always going to have fun because he's my brother. I'm the little boy, like he always says, so, I'm always happy to see Fred in that line-up."

That wasn't all. Tebogo also opened up on how Fred Kerley stood by him in his hard times. In his words,

"Fred was there for me during my hard times. I remember he just text me, and when I don't respond, he'll just get mad at me."

Tebogo and Kerley both competed for the top honors in the men's 200m finals at the Diamond League Finals held in Brussels recently. However, they were defeated by Kerley's teammate and Olympic silver medalist Kenneth 'Kenny' Bednarek, who clocked an impressive 19.67 seconds to take home the Diamond League trophy.

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Fred Kerley's unwavering support for Letsile Tebogo

Letsile Tebogo of Botswana [2nd from Left] and Fred Kerley [2nd from right] in action at the 100m finals in Paris Olympics 2024 [Image Source: Getty]

The Olympic bronze medalist in the men's 100m has been extremely supportive of his fellow sprinter from Botswana for a long time.

When Letsile Tebogo created history by winning Botswana's first Olympic gold medal after he won the 200m event, Fred Kerley congratulated him by writing the following on his X account [formerly Twitter]:

"LETSILE TEBOGO deserves that!"

Fred Kerley also cheered Letsile Tebogo when multiple rewards were announced by the Botswana administration for his historic achievement in the 200m event at the Paris Olympics, including a national holiday. In one of his X posts, he wrote,

"Got damn go on with you bad self then [Fire Emojis]"

Moreover, when Tebogo received a grand welcome in Botswana, Fred Kerley also cheered him up over the same. He wrote a cheeky post on his X account [formerly Twitter], titled,

"Ima tell my kids this was Nelson Mandela!"

Kerley and Tebogo competed against each other in the men's 100m finals at the Paris Olympics 2024. Where Tebogo created a new national record with a timing of 9.86 seconds, while Fred Kerley took home the bronze medal with a timing of 9.81 seconds. Noah Lyles of the USA edged out Kishane Thompson of Jamaica by 0.005 seconds to win the Olympic gold medal in the 100m event, the first for an American sprinter in two decades.