Botswana’s first-ever Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo has clarified his relationship with Noah Lyles after calling him “arrogant” in an interview after defeating the Olympic 100m champion in the 200m last summer in Paris
Last Updated: 02/04/25 2:56pm
Letsile Tebogo and Noah Lyles congratulating each other at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Letsile Tebogo has clarified his “arrogant” comment aimed at Noah Lyles last summer after beating the American to gold in the 200m race at the Paris Olympics.
Tebogo blazed to a time of 19.46 seconds in the Paris 200m final, cementing himself as the fifth fastest man in history.
Three-time 200m world champion Lyles was the favourite for gold and appeared ready to do the 100m and 200m sprint double in his attempts to become only the second man to achieve the feat this side of the millennium – the other being Usain Bolt in 2008, 2012, and 2016. But moments after crossing the finish line in third, the American was taken away in a wheelchair before later revealing he had COVID-19.
Tebogo won gold in the men’s 200m at the Paris 2024 Olympics
In the post-race press conference, Botswana’s only Olympic champion raised eyebrows when he said he could not be the face of athletics because he was not “an arrogant or loud person like Noah”. However, Tebogo has now insisted there is no animosity between him and Lyles.
Lyles at the Paris 2024 Olympics
“When you get onto the track, it’s all about business,” said Tebogo. “[But] when we finish, you can be friends, life goes on.
“But the ‘arrogance’ … he’s good to sell our sport. With me, I’ll always shy away from doing that because that’s me.”
With Lyles aiming to reassert his dominance over 200m at the World Championships in Tokyo this year, Tebogo was asked about running with a target on his back.
“Everybody who’s there on the line-up, it’s a rival,” he said.
“You cannot eliminate somebody because he didn’t perform well at the 2024 Olympics or 2023 World Championships. It’s a new year, new beginnings, new goals.
“It’s a rivalry on the track, and then off the track, we are human beings at the end of the day.”
