Botswana's Letsile Tebogo Sets Continental Record in 200-Meter Win Over Noah Lyles

Patrick Andres | Aug 8, 2024

Botswana's Letslie Tebogo after winning the men's 200-meter race at the Olympics in Paris on Aug. 8, 2024. / Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated

No African in history has ever been better at the 200-meter race than Botswana's Letslie Tebogo was Thursday.

At the Summer Olympics in Paris, Tebogo bested the United States's Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles with a time of 19.46 to win his country's first-ever gold medal.

The time represented a continental record, breaking a mark previously held by ... Tebogo. The 21-year-old Gaborone native ran 200 meters in 19.50 seconds at the World Athletics Diamond League meet in London in 2023.

Tebogo won two medals at the world championships in Budapest in 2023, taking silver in the 100-meter race and bronze in the 200-meter race.

LETSILE TEBOGO IS THE OLYMPIC 200M CHAMP ‼️

🇧🇼's Letsile Tebogo powers to the gold with a 19.46 AREA RECORD 🤯#Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/3ReC9PT90o

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 8, 2024

Previously, Botswana—one of the most sparsely populated countries on Earth—had only two Olympic medals to its name. Both were athletics medals, in the men's 800-meter race in London in 2012 and in the men's 4-by-400-meter relay in Tokyo in 2021.

Given his young age, it appears likely that Tebogo will be a factor on the world stage for years to come.