Paris 2024: Letsile Tebogo Wins Men's 200-Meter For Botswana's First Olympic Gold

Letsile Tebogo is the new men's 200-meter Olympic champion. He finished fastest in the final for Botswana's first ever Olympic gold medal outpacing rivals like Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek at the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

The Botswanan for the last 100m stretch of the race, dictated the pace amidst the two Americans, Bednarek and Lyles to clinch the medal in a time of 19.49s - a time much convincing to get him past his rival. In the build ups to the final,, Tebogo had remained in the top spot and even outpaced Lyles in the semi-final.

Though, it latter was a little dramatic for Lyles and was taking out of the tracks on wheelshair over Covid scare, which he had been dealing with ahead of the race. It was not a disappointing race for the Americans nonetheless. Bednarek finished in 19.62s for silver and Lyles in 19.70s for bronze. 

"I do have Covid," said Lyles. "It definitely affected my performance. I've had to take a lot of breaks. I was coughing through the night."