The rising star from Botswana stormed to victory in an African record of 19.46 seconds in front of a buoyant Stade de France crowd on Thursday (8 August), denying pre-race favourite Noah Lyles the coveted sprint double.
Lyles, who won the Olympic 100m title in dramatic fashion on Sunday, was not able to live with the impressive pace of the 21-year-old and finished third behind fellow American Kenneth Bednarek (19.62) to take bronze in 19.70.
Immediately after the race, Lyles revealed, that he tested positive for COVID. The track superstar had to be helped off the track in a wheelchair.
Tebogo dedicated his country’s first ever Olympic gold to his mother Elizabeth Seratiwa, who passed away last May. He showed his spikes, displaying her date of birth into the cameras and had the initials of her name painted on his fingernails.
“She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy,” said an emotional Tebogo who had won 200m bronze at last year’s world championships.
The new African star is one of more than 600 IOC scholarship holders at Paris 2024.
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