The 21-year-old struck gold in Paris to become Botswana’s first-ever Olympic champion. Now he is aiming to continue his rise in the sport in his own silent way.
Against the roaring backdrop of the Stade de France, one man went quietly about his business.
Eight athletes had entered the stadium for the Paris 2024 men’s 200m final, each harbouring the hope of being named Olympic champion.
Some pointed to the camera, others bounded onto the track, flinging their arms into the air to encourage the crowd to raise the noise levels even higher.
But for Letsile Tebogo, who only a year earlier had become Africa’s first world 100m medallist in athletics, the Olympic final seemed like a moment of quiet introspection.
As he settled into the blocks, the young athlete breathed deeply and glanced up at the sky. And, after a brief moment of silence in the stadium that was followed by the loud bang of the starter’s gun, he took his first steps in the race that would make him Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medallist.
The result was a surprise to many. The sport’s biggest showman Noah Lyles was favourite to complete the sprint double, having won the men’s 100m title just days earlier.
However, for all his quiet seriousness, it was Tebogo who triumphed when it mattered most, proving the age-old adage that actions speak louder than words.
“Athletes are all different, there’s the loud ones, there’s also the quiet ones,” Tebogo explained to Olympics.com in an exclusive interview where he compared his personality to some of the larger-than-life characters on the sprint scene today.
“So I prefer being silent and just let the legs do the talking. I’ve always been a reserved person, so athletics won’t change the person who I am
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