Botswana’s Letsile Tobogo had his moment during the men’s 200-meter final at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. The athlete cruised to the gold medal with a time of 19.46, outpacing Team USA’s Kenny Bednarek (silver) and Noah Lyles (bronze), who was notably battling a case of COVID-19.
After the event, Tebogo took questions from the media. He was appropriately asked if he had any ambitions about being one of the faces of sprinting worldwide. In a very matter-of-fact fashion — I’m talking with a completely straight face — Tebogo said he probably couldn’t be one of the faces because he’s not as “loud or arrogant” as Lyles.
It’s not surprising that Tebogo would say something like this. Lyles’ general brashness probably hasn’t exactly endeared him to his fellow competitors. Lyles’ well-publicized beef with NBA superstars might just be the tip of the iceberg there.
Letsile Tebogo was asked after winning the men's 200m final if he aspires to world records and being the face of track and field.
Here was his answer:
"I can't be the face of athletics because I'm not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah (Lyles)."#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/HzafPb1kaM
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 8, 2024
It is worth noting that Lyles did congratulate Tebogo after the race:
LETSILE TEBOGO congratulations 🍾
Ik you have had a very rough year off the track and despite that you overcame it all!— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) August 8, 2024
Kudos to Tebogo for saying something like this after actually beating Lyles, though. That man is almost certainly on top of the world for beating one of his top rivals. He’s earned the right to pontificate as he pleases.
And the irony of it? Even if he might not have meant for it to sound like trash talk, talking about Lyles like this in public is precisely what could make Tebogo one of the faces of sports.