For Botswana's track star Letsile Tebogo, winning gold at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics has "opened a lot of doors", but it has also added scrutiny. The unassuming Botswanan, 21, was one of the standout performers in Paris this year, becoming the first African to win the men's 200m and silver in the 4x400m relay. Tebogo is one of two finalists for the men's track athlete of the year award, along with Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The Olympics have taken me to a different level, it has opened a lot of doors for me,
00:27it has created more empowerment for the youth back in their country, back in the African continent.
00:32Because now a lot of youth wants to engage in sporting activities, not just athletics,
00:38because I've shown them that anything is possible.
00:44I believe there is true potential in Africa, just that we don't have much resources to use in Africa than other countries.
00:51So if we have the resources, then Africa could be one of the deadliest continents that ever came in.
00:59So once we have the facilities, everything is going to fall right.
01:07As governments, we should train more coaches, improve our facilities, our stadiums, our tracks,
01:19so that we know that our kids go on to the right place.
01:24Because once you find a gem in Africa, you don't know when you're going to find the next gem in Africa.
01:33Because we have the talent, but we don't have the coaches that could help us nurture that talent into something very big.
01:44We haven't sat down with the coach and the team to discuss our plans for the 2025 season,
01:52but I believe one is going to make Africa proud.
01:57That's the first one, that will never change, no matter what season we get into.