By Mitch Phillips
PARIS (Reuters) -Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the men’s Olympic 200 metres title on Thursday when he powered clear of American duo Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles to claim Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal.
Tebogo, who set a national record of 9.86 when finishing sixth in the Paris 100m final, produced a dominant last 50 metres and crossed the line in 19.46 seconds beating his chest as he become the fifth-fastest man in history over 200m.
Bednarek chased him all the way to take a second successive silver in 19.62 seconds, with Lyles, who had been hoping to become the first American to complete the sprint double since Carl Lewis 40 years ago, repeating his Tokyo bronze in 19.67.
It was the triple world champion’s first defeat in a 200m final for three years. He received medical treatment after crossing the line and after the race, U.S. officials said he had COVID, putting his participation in Friday’s sprint relay final in serious doubt.
Adding to the chaos, a yellow card appeared against his name in the official results to mark a misconduct violation for damaging his lane box.
Lyles might still hog the limelight, but it was Tebogo and Africa’s night. It is common to see a clutch of Africans in major middle and long-distance races, but this was the first time in Olympic history that four appeared in a sprint final.
Although three filled the last three places in the final, Tebogo’s place on top of the podium was a huge leap forward.
“I’m the Olympic champion, it’s something I have never seen in my life or dreamt of – it is an amazing moment,” the 21-year-old told reporters.
“I just came here with the little that I had in me to push through because yesterday we made it to the final, my coach told me ‘now it’s your race’.
“I knew when the gun went Kenny was going to run away so make sure just to close him down, I have that top end speed that will allow me to finish the race without getting tired, so that’s what I did, and when I saw Kenny fade I knew Noah was far, far away behind us so that means I’m the Olympic champion.
“It means a lot for everybody, the country, the continent and my family.”
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
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