Following his win, the 21-year-old Batswana ingrained his name in Africa’s sports history by becoming the continent’s first-ever 200m Olympic gold medalist.
To win this, he ousted the odds favorite, American Noah Lyles (19.70) who went home with the bronze medal, and fellow American, Kenneth Bednarek (19.62) who took home the silver medal.
Letsile Tebogo dedicated his historic win to his late mother, who died in May following a brief illness.
“I think she could be one of the happiest people on the planet, because she believed in me and I had so much doubt for myself,” the emotional Batswana gold medalist stated.
“She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy,” he added.
Following his extraordinary performance, Tebogo displayed his running boots which were etched with his mother’s initials and date of birth; “E.S.T 23-12-1980.”
The same initials were also inscribed on his finger nails.
His mother, Seratiwa Tebogo, who died in May 2024 after a brief illness, had always supported his profession and attended every major match he raced in.
She witnessed him participate at the World Championships in Budapest in 2023 when he became the first African man to make it to the podium in the 100m with after a brilliant silver medal performance.
In addition, Tebogo also shouted out the people of Africa, stating; “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 was loud and clear. It didn’t take so long, they were just waiting for me to step up.”
Football aspirations
An extract from the Olympics officials page reads, “As a youngster growing up in Botswana, Tebogo was a talented athlete with a love for football. However, while speed was unquestionable even back then, his ability with a ball at his feet was less obvious.”
Letsile Tebogo initially wanted to lace up football boots and become football player, however, he would find little success in this and instead opt to use his speed on the racing tracks.
“I used to run past people and win medals. I also played football. Every time though I went to play football I was being benched,” he stated during an interview with Runblog.com.
At just 18 years old, he became the second U-20 athlete to ever break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters with a world record run of 9.96 seconds.
Continuing his meteoric climb in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year, he bagged silver as the first African runner to finish on the podium in the 100 meters.
