Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the Olympic 200 metres gold on Thursday when he ran the race of his life in Paris 2024 to storm clear of American duo Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles in 19.46 seconds.
Tebogo’s stunning win at the Stade de France denied 100m champion Lyles a sprint double.
The 21-year-old Botswana winning time of 19.46 seconds was also an African record, as he finished ahead of Bednarek, who crossed the line in 19.62, and Lyles in 19.70 seconds.
Lyles, who was crowned the world’s fastest man after a 9.79 seconds photo finish to win gold in a stunning men’s 100m race on Sunday night, was seeking to become the first man since Usain Bolt in 2016 to complete a 100m and 200m double at an Olympic Games.
It later emerged after the race that the Lyles had tested positive for Covid, and the 27-year-old had to be helped off the track in a wheelchair, the BBC reported.
Nevertheless, Tebogo, who started in lane seven, won a deserved gold in an epic race to mark his first Olympics with a gold medal, and his country’s first at the Olympic Games.
Tebogo dedicated Olympic gold to his mother Seratiwa, who died in May after a brief illness. Following his victory, he held his spikes, which showed her date of birth, up to the camera.
“It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field. To take her (with me), it gives me a lot of motivation. She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy,” an emotional Tebogo said.
The Botswana athlete had won 200m bronze at last year’s world championships.
