By Mark Gleeson
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -In the country famous for its diamonds, sprinter Letsile Tebogo sparkles brightly, having won a first Olympic gold for Botswana in Paris last year and become a powerful role model as he overcame heartbreaking adversity.
His triumph in the men’s 200m final last August propelled him to hero status and emphasised the growing ability of the arid southern African country to produce world-class athletes.
But Tebogo’s success in Paris had an asterisk beside it, fuelling a rivalry that could provide the highlight of this month’s World Championships in Tokyo.
American favourite Noah Lyles had tested positive for COVID before the Olympic 200m and laboured to bronze at the Stade de France, but extracted revenge in last month’s Diamond League final in Zurich, coming from behind to haul in Tebogo before the line.
The pair will likely be back for a much-anticipated showdown at the 200m final on September 19.
Tebogo was obviously disappointed in Zurich and said: “This is not my true potential right now. I feel there is still a lot more in the tank that people need to see. I take this as a big motivation for my training and from tomorrow, until the last day of the (World Championships) 200m final, I have to give it all my best.”
There was also a dig at the showboating of Lyles, never one to avoid the limelight in contrast to the shy and retiring 22-year-old from a village on the border with South Africa.
“The strong part of me is you have to let the legs do the talking because the more you talk and cannot prove it, it means you only talk,” said Tebogo.
“I think now, Lyles is humble. He knows what can happen in this sport. He wins today, tomorrow, he can lose it. I believe since Paris, he has been humble, he has not been talking so much. I believe he is more afraid of me than any other athlete.”
Tebogo’s win in the 200m Olympic final was the fifth fastest performance in history, setting a new African record of 19.46, and earning him the title of Men’s World Athlete of the Year.
World Athletics recognised not only the 200m success but his feat in helping Botswana reach the men’s 4x400m final and earn silver behind the U.S. in an African record of 2:54.53 thanks to his extraordinary final leg. His split of 43.04 is among the fastest ever recorded.
OVERCOMING TRAGEDY
It capped a season that had started in tragedy when his 44-year-old mother died after a brief illness, leaving him bereft.
“I remember I stayed more than three weeks doing nothing, just home sleeping,” he told a television documentary on his life made by World Athletics.
“I didn’t have the motivation to even start training, up until one day my teammates came here, they fetched me: ‘Let us go, watch us train. Maybe something will click.’
“I went, I just stayed on the stands and watched. And I thought to myself, would she be happy if I left the sport?”
Now he is aware of being a role model and how his life story can motivate others from similarly poor backgrounds. He only got his first pair of spikes once he had broken his country’s 100m record.
“Without sport, I would probably be a criminal by now,” Tebogo told the BBC last year.
“In the neighbourhood that I was growing up in, there were a lot of criminals. We thought that was the only way to survive.
“Athletics has given me so many opportunities, and I want young people to believe in themselves, dream big and enjoy the sport,” he said.
(Editing by Toby Davis)
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