Letsile Tebogo reflected on his career’s turning point, winning his first global gold in Nairobi.
Reigning Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo launched his professional career in Nairobi, Kenya and has admitted that the nation will forever hold a special place in his heart.
The world 100m silver medallist will remember Nairobi for granting him his first gold medal on a global stage after years of being uncertain about what career to pursue since he was gifted both in athletics and football.
Tebogo revealed that growing up, however, he used to play football a lot and knew that he would finally end up as a footballer but admitted that Botswana does not take football seriously.
The Olympic champion has expressed his disappointment at the lukewarm reception Team USA athletes received back home despite their successful outing in Paris.
After trying out athletics for the first time and qualifying for the 2021 World Under-20 Championships, Tebogo was excited to be flying out of the country for the first.
Things got sweeter on his end when he proceeded to claim a gold medal in the 100m and a silver in the 200m, and the prize money was also life changing. That’s the moment he knew where he belonged.
“My most memorable moment was when I won the first gold medal for Botswana in Kenya because that’s when I knew this could be something great and beautiful for the country and for me as well,” Letsile Tebogo said.
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Letsile Tebogo
“I knew that I could change a few things in my country and family. Yeah, Kenya has a place in my heart all the time.”
In the recent past, the world 200m bronze medallist has been racing sparingly in the 100m, revealing that if he increases the number of 100m races, his body might just shut down.
Tebogo pointed out that it’s the reason behind competing in many different distances, to avoid the body from getting relaxed with a certain distance. At the moment, he just works with local coaches and noted that American coach John Smith comes in handy from time to time.
Letsile Tebogo has always been vocal about relocating, insisting that most of the time when African athletes move abroad, their careers do not progress and they tend to quit after their collegiate years.
“I believe that when you sprint the 100m for a long time, the body is going to shut down because you have been doing the same thing over and over again. I am also very young and I want to have a lengthy career,” he said.
“We weigh options of the 100m, 200m, 400m and the 4x400m relay and we just play with the muscles to see how the body responds. It will increase as the years go by and we can’t put everything together now and we don’t have it to be game over for us after something like three years.”
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The 2024 season was amazing for the 21-year-old who made the whole of Africa proud at the Paris Olympic Games. Tebogo became the first African to win a gold medal in the 200m at an Olympic Games.
Letsile Tebogo also anchored the men’s 4x400m relay team to a silver medal. He dropped splendid times in the 200m and rounded up his season with a second-place finish at the Diamond League Meeting final in Brussels.
The 2025 seasons holds so much more for the Motswana youngster who hopes to continue making history for Botswana and Africa.
