Letsile Tebogo makes a case for African sprinters with thrilling Olympic victory in the 200 meters

PARIS (AP) — Letsile Tebogo is from Botswana in southern Africa, a continent with a rich history of producing world-class runners.

Just not like the kind Tebogo does for a living. He's hoping 20 seconds of greatness — check 19.46 seconds of greatness — might change that.

The 21-year-old pulled off a stunner (sort of) in the men's 200 meters at the Paris Olympics on Thursday night, producing the first-ever Olympic gold by an African runner in the distance.

American Kenneth Bednarek got out to an early lead, but Tebosgo said he was confident that he had more than enough to track him down. By the middle of the stretch, Tebogo was in front and waited for a challenge from American star Noah Lyles that never came — perhaps in part because Lyles is dealing with COVID-19 — to win going away.

“When I saw Kenny fade I knew Noah was far, far, far away behind us,” Tebogo said. "So that means I’m the Olympic champion.”

One who is also a three-time world champion.

Lost amid the chaos of Lyles collapsing briefly on the track in the aftermath and his revelation that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday was this: Tebogo's time was the fastest by anyone in the world this year.

Lyles included.

Heady territory for an athlete who gets himself amped up before a race by playing traditional songs he learned growing up in Kanye, Botswana, not far from the landlocked nation's border with South Africa.

The ritual allows Tebogo to relax, drawing a stark contrast between him and the relentlessly amped Lyles. While Lyles roared onto the purple track at Stade de France preening, Tebogo was one lane to Lyles' right mentally preparing for the race of his life.

And when Tebogo ran it, he draped the blue, white and black flag of his country over his shoulders, hung his orange cleats around his neck presented his right shoe to a nearby camera to reveal a tribute to his mother, Elizabeth Seratiwa, who died in May.

“She always dreamed of making it to here,” Tebogo said.

So did his younger sister, who was somewhere in the sea of seats that roared during the race, a roar that grew louder when it became obvious Lyles wasn't going to track Tebogo down the way he had to just about everyone since Tokyo in his signature event.

Not this time. While there may not be an official rivalry between Tebogo and Lyles, the seeds may have been planted somewhere between Lyles' preening and Tebogo's decisive victory.

Asked afterward if he envisions himself as becoming one of the standard bearers in sprinting, Tebogo threw a dash of shade in his answer.

“I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah (Lyles),” he said.

Maybe. Tebogo's biography in the official Olympics media program quotes him as saying he wants "to be remembered as one of the best athletes who ever lived.”

He's probably already there back home, a largely rural country of 2.63 million roughly the size of France that serves as a popular destination for tourists going on African safaris. The pace of life in Kanye isn't typically hectic. Maybe that makes Tebogo's triumph of a young man in a hurry ironic in a way.

Tebogo fought off a balky hamstring to win bronze in the 200 behind Lyles and his U.S. teammate Erriyon Knighton in the 2023 athletics world championship. He actually finished ahead of Lyles in their 200 semifinal on Wednesday. Lyles' camp said he Lyles was fine afterward, indicating he was simply saving himself for the final.

Perhaps he was. Yet when Tebogo took off, Lyles saw only the bib on the back of Tebogo's race shirt. Lyles never saw the bib on the front.

Not until the end anyway, when Tebogo unpinned it, grabbed each end and presented it for all world to see. The people of Africa most of all.

“It means a lot for everybody,” he said. "The country, the continent and my family at large.”

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this report.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games