Letsile Tebogo

Letsile Tebogo (born 7 June 2003) is a Motswana sprinter. He won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 200 metres event, earning the first-ever Olympic gold medal for Botswana. He also won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships in the 100 m and followed it up with a bronze medal in the 200 m five days later.

Tebogo won in the 100 metres and placed second in the 200 metres at both the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships and 2022 World Athletics Under-20 Championships. In 2021, he became the first Botswana athlete to claim the 100 m title at any World Championships level. He is the 200 m 2022 African champion, becoming the youngest winner of this title in competition history.

Tebogo broke the 300 m world best, running a time of 30.69 seconds on February 17, 2024, at altitude in Pretoria, South Africa. He has held the world U20 record in the 100 m since April 2022 and was the first man from Botswana to break the 10-second barrier.

Career

Letsile Tebogo started competing internationally when he was 17 at the 2021 World Athletics Relays in Chorzów, Poland. Later that year, he won the 100 metres and came second in the 200 metres at the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

In February 2022, at just 18 years old, he set a new national record for Botswana in the 100 m with a time of 10.08 seconds. He then broke the 10-second barrier with a time of 9.96 seconds at the Gaborone International Meet. He continued to improve his records and, in July 2022, ran the 100 m in 9.94 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

On August 8, 2024, Tebogo won the gold medal in the 200 m at the Paris Olympics with a time of 19.46 seconds, making it Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. His achievement was celebrated by declaring a holiday in Botswana, and the government of Botswana gave him two houses in honor of his victory.

Later in 2024, he won the Jesse Owens Rising Star Award at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussel and was named the Association of National Olympic Committees best male athlete of Paris 2024. By the end of the year, he was named World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year.

In February 2025, during floods in Gaborone, Tebogo helped pull cars out of the water. In April 2025, he became the ambassador for Kids’ Athletics Day. At the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, he finished fourth in the 200 m final and helped Botswana win the 4 × 400 m relay.

Achievements

Letsile Tebogo has achieved many great things in his running career. He won the gold medal in the 200 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which was the first Olympic gold medal ever for Botswana. He also won a silver medal in the 100 metres and a bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 2023 World Championships.

He has also won several important races in different competitions around the world, including events in Monaco, Lausanne, Rome, Zürich, Doha, and more. These victories show his skill and dedication as a runner.