Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo says athletics saved him from crime

Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo said on Wednesday he could have become a delinquent if the sport of athletics had not given him a focus.

Tebogo, who stunned the field in Paris last year to became Botswana’s first Olympic gold medallist in any sport, said he would take the lessons he learned from his childhood into his new role as a global ambassador for the Kids Athletics scheme.

“Sport has really helped me a lot because I think without sport… probably I would be a criminal by now,” 21-year-old Tebogo told reporters on a video conference call.

A tough neighbourhood shaped his resilience

“In the neighbourhood where I grew up there were a lot of criminals, it was the only way to survive.

“But then with sport I knew I had to go to school and with training you are tired. You don’t have time to roam the streets and go into people’s houses,” he added.

“So once I discovered that I tried to pull in a few friends of mine … and now they are playing football.

“We always talk about if this didn’t work out, where would we be?”

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The Kids Athletics programme, overseen by World Athletics and targeted at children aged four to 14, is focused on maximising participation and enjoyment through modified games and competitions based on track and field events.

From footballer to sprinting star

Tebogo, who after the call took part in a relay event with around 1 000 children on the same grounds in Botswana where he used to train as a boy, recalled that he initially preferred football.

“I was more of a footballer, a left-winger. The teachers at my primary school forced me into athletics,” he said.

“(Athletics) wasn’t that popular in Botswana back then, until the Commonwealth Games 2018.

“From my side I just wanted to see where it would take me. Athletics was just a part-time thing for me.”

His switch of sports paid off handsomely at the Olympics when he crossed the line at the Stade de France in an African record of 19.46sec, leaving Kenny Bednarek of the USA second and 100m champion Noah Lyles in the bronze-medal position.

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Tebogo called Lyles “arrogant” after that race and suggested the cameras would always prefer the brash American.

He clarified those remarks on Wednesday, saying: “When you get onto the track, it’s all about business.

“When we finish, you can be friends, life goes on. “But the ‘arrogance’ (of Lyles)… he is good to sell our sport. But with me, I’ll always shy away from doing that because that’s me.”

Upcoming races and future challenges

Tebogo came second in a rare outing at 400m in Melbourne last weekend and will run a 200m race at a meeting in Botswana next week as he sharpens his speed before heading to the Diamond League meetings in Xiamen and Shanghai on April 26 and May 3 respectively.

He said he expected his rivals to be gunning for him as they build towards the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

“Everybody who’s there on the lineup, it’s a rival. You cannot eliminate somebody because he didn’t perform well at the 2024 Olympics or 2023 World Championships,” Tebogo said.

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