23 Jul 2023

Letsile Tebogo has enshrined his name in history books as the first Motswana to qualify for the Olympics in the 100 metres event.

He qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday when he recorded his season best time of 9.93 at the Monaco Diamond League. The red-hot athlete finished on position two behind Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, who ran 9.92.

Instructions from coach Kebonyemodisa Mosimanyane were explicit, ‘go there and enjoy your race, but this time I want a sub 10 and Olympic qualification’. And Tebogo obliged with a scintillating run.

In an interview, Mosimanyane said his other instruction to Tebogo was to collect maximum points in the race as they would want to make it to the Diamond League finals.

The mission was also to gauge the athlete’s peak since the World Championships were fast approaching.

Two athletes; Bayapo Ndori (400m) and Tebogo, have qualified for the Olympics.

According to Mosimanyane, qualifying for the games early would enable the team to kick-off preparations on time especially that a busy season lied ahead.

Sunday Standard sport editor, Botlhale Koothopile, said Batswana should be proud for making world headlines in short sprints.

‘Not so long ago, we used to say Botswana is not a short sprint country. We were either a 400m or 800m country because we excelled there. We doubted whether we could produce sub 10 running 100m sprinters,’ he said in an interview.

Koothopile said Tebogo’s Olympic qualification in 100m ushered in a new era for Botswana athletics.

This, he said, also opened a door of hope for young athletes.

“Young as he is and at the beginning of his career, Letsile is already a legend in Botswana athletics. If he goes in the same trajectory, we are likely to get an Olympic medal in short sprints at Paris 2024,’ he said.

Botswana Athletics Association vice president, Oabona Theetso, said the federation was not shocked that Tebogo had qualified for the Olympics.

‘If you have been following his performance, you would have realised that it was just a matter of time for him to make it to the Olympics,’ he said. ENDS