Meet Letsile Tebogo, the Botswana sprinter who could threaten Noah Lyles' historic double triumph at Paris Olympics 2024

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Aug 05, 2024 21:28 GMT

Letsile Tebogo, a sprinter from Botswana recently topped the charts in his heat of the men's 200m event at the Paris Olympics 2024. Running in the third heat of the event, Tebogo clocked a time of 20.10 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals, scheduled for August 7 (Wednesday).

Tebogo was in a tough group in the heats, as he had to face the European Championships silver medalist (200m), Filippo Tortu. However, the 21-year-old, running in the first 200m race of his Olympic career, managed to hold off Tortu, who eventually finished third with a run time of 20.29 seconds.

Born in the village of Kanye in Botswana on June 7, 2003, Tebogo is competing in the first Olympics of his career and has shown impressive performances in both the 100m and 200m events he has competed in so far. With the type of performance he produced during the heats, he could seriously emerge as a threat for Noah Lyles, who will be aiming for double gold in the 100m and 200m events.

In recent years, Letsile Tebogo has presented himself as one of the most prolific and talented sprinters. Not only has he carved out a name for himself on the continental circuit by winning the 200m title at the African Championships, but he has also produced some prolific performances in global tournaments, such as the World Championships.

At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, the Botswana sprinter clinched back-to-back medals in the 100m (silver) and 200m (bronze) events. He is also the first-ever Botswana athlete to win a 100m title at the World Championships level, a feat that he achieved in 2021 during the U20 World Championships in Nairobi.

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Letsile Tebogo finished sixth in the first Olympic finals of his career

Letsile Tebogo at the Budapest World Championships (Image via: Getty)

Running in the first Olympic final of his career, Letsile Tebogo finished sixth in the men's 100m. Tebogo clocked a run time of 9.86 seconds, which is a national record for his country in the discipline.

Even though it wasn't enough to find him a place on the podium that featured Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson, and Fred Kerley, the 21-year-old seemed very satisfied with the performance he was able to put up in the event. In a conversation with SABC Sport, he stated:

"Great achievement looking at the Olympics, looking at the age, first Olympics, national record. Not everybody makes it to the final, I am grateful for what happened today. What I learned tonight is that, make sure you perfect everything according to the race and don't leave out anything."

He further stated:

"What's next is the 200m. I believe I have done well, just self counseling and hoping for better results. I believe tomorrow, I will be a new man."

Tebogo has already qualified for the semi-finals of the men's 200m event and will set his sights on featuring in the second Olympic final of his career on Wednesday.