It will take ages for the 2024 Paris euphoria to settle following Botswana's impressive haul of a silver and gold medal, the best return since the Moscow debut in 1980. The feeling of undiluted joy has been overwhelming, with sport emphatically making sure a nation is united by the team's victory. Hard as the nation tries to apportion equal praise to the whole team, one man, like a pebble on the beach, stands out. There has been one name within and outside Botswana's borders; Letsile Tebogo. Not that others were insignificant in creating Botswana's finest sport moment.
They proved to be vital cogs, particularly the 4x400m team that ensured that Team Botswana flew out of Paris with two medals. However, in almost every sport situation there is that vital component, the kingpin or the playmaker. Tebogo is what Diego Maradona was to Argentina, what Pele represented in Brazil and what Doctor Khumalo encapsulated during his heydays in South Africa. There is always that stand-out performer and Tebogo lived up to his billing with a bewildering 200m run that thrust Botswana into the global spotlight. After the 100m finals where Tebogo finished 6th, there was measured optimism with growing fears the Paris campaign would go awry. However, a focused Tebogo lifted the mood with blistering runs in the 200m heats and the semi-finals. It was in the semi-final that Botswana's star runner sent an unambiguous statement of intent when he left a boisterous Noah Lyles of the United States in his wake.
Lyles, who had threatened to run away with the 100m and 200m titles, had been humbled and admitted that his semi-final race against Tebogo was his toughest. It was in the final that the Kanye lad tipped the scales and re-defined the hopes and aspirations of its more 2.6million citizens. Against a strong line-up that included the American trio of Kenneth Bednerak, Lyles and Erriyon Knighton, Tebogo faced formidable foes. But he proved to all and sundry that he had arrived on the big stage with arguably the most significant sporting moment, since Botswana attained independence in 1966. It took just 19.46 secs for Tebogo to run the half lap at the Stade de France, but that brief moment had far-greater implications for both the runner and the landlocked country. That run ensured that Botswana became one of only four countries that won their first gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games.
The others are Dominica, Saint Lucia and Guatemala. It has taken Botswana 44 years to achieve the feat, with the country's first participation at the Olympics coming in Moscow in 1980. The future is looking sparklingly bright and exciting for Botswana, with Tebogo ensuring the country is widely spoken about in recent days. And the redefinition is only taking off with Tebogo tipped to dominate the sprints as he approaches his prime. The efforts of the athletes was meanwhile, rewarded with nearly P5million from both the public and private sector, with Choppies Botswana contributing almost half of the amount.
