Letsile Tebogo

Letsile Tebogo ( ; born 7 June 2003) is a Botswana sprinter. He won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 200 metres event, with his win 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 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. He broke the 300 m world best, running a time of 30.69 seconds on 17 February 2024 at altitude in Pretoria, South Africa.

Tebogo has held the world U20 record in the 100 m since April 2022. He was the first man from Botswana to break the 10-second barrier.

Career Tebogo gained his first international experience at the age of 17 at the 2021 World Athletics Relays held in May in Chorzów, Poland. Two months later, he became the first man from Botswana to break the 10-second barrier at the event as he clocked a time of 9.96 seconds at the Gaborone International Meet, setting a new world under-20 record. On 15 July, he further improved his record in his debut race at the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, with a time of 9.94 seconds. The following month, he broke his own record again, clocking a 9.91 second performance in the final of the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia. At the end of the race he celebrated early, drawing comparisons to 100 m and 200 m world records holder Usain Bolt.

On 8 August 2024, Tebogo won the 200 m final at the Paris Olympics, earning the first-ever gold medal for Botswana with a time of 19.46s. His victory led to a holiday being declared in Botswana to celebrate his feat on the afternoon of 9 August. The government of Botswana also awarded him two houses in recognition of his victory.

In September 2024, Tebogo became the first male winner of the newly inaugurated Jesse Owens Rising Star Award at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussel. The 21-year-old's 19.80 was the best performance of the final by a male athlete aged 23 or under, even though he did not win the final. In the next month, for his historic achievement as an Olympic champion for Botswana, Tebogo received the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) award for best male athlete of Paris 2024.

In December 2024, Tebogo was named World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year.

During the Botswana floods that took place in February 2025, Tebogo was praised for pulling cars out of floods in Gaborone.

In April 2025, Olympic champion Tebogo was appointed as the Kids’ Athletics Day 2025 ambassador by World Athletics.

At the 2025 World Athletics Championships, held in Tokyo, Japan, Tebogo was disqualified from the 100 metres final, after a false start. He then qualified for the 200 m final, where he finished fourth behind Noah Lyles, Kenneth Bednarek, and Bryan Levell. On 21 September 2025, running the second leg, he helped Botswana win the 4 × 400 m relay with the team recording a winning time of 2:57.76. The team consisted of Tebogo, Collen Kebinatshipi, Bayapo Ndori, and Lee Eppie.

In May 2026, Tebogo ran the second leg of the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, in front of a home crowd. The team ran a final time of 2:54.47, a competition record and the third fastest performance in the event ever at the time.

Achievements Personal bests

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles Diamond League 2023: Lausanne Athletissima (200 m) 2024: Monaco Herculis (200 m), Lausanne Athletissima (200 m), Kamila Skolimowska Memorial (200 m), Rome Golden Gala (100 m), Zürich Weltklasse (200 m) 2025: Doha Diamond League (200 m), Prefontaine Classic (200 m) 2026: Bislett Games (200 m), Lausanne Athletissima (200 m) World Athletics Continental Tour 2023: Botswana Golden Grand Prix (200 m) 2024: Grand Prix Lombardia Brescia (200 m) 2025: Botswana Golden Grand Prix (200 m)