FAST AND FEARLESS
Blink, and there’s a good chance you will miss him! Although he only turned 18 in June, Letsile ‘Schoolboy’ Tebogo is already the fastest man in Botswana.
On his way to 100m Gold at the U/20 World Championships in Kenya last month, the Kanye whizz-kid clocked a lightning fast 10.11 in the semi-final. It is the fastest a Motswana has ever run the 100m, beating the 10.20 set by the great Isaac Makwala seven years ago.
Tebogo’s Kenyan heroics saw him become the first local athlete to win a medal in the 100m - the fact that it was Gold made it all the more sweeter.
The talented teen, a Form Five Gaborone Senior School student, was back in action the very next day, winning Silver in the 200m, his favourite distance.
This week, we sit down with the explosive athlete to find out a bit more about his life in the fast lane.
Massive congratulations on your two-medal haul at the U/20 World Championships last month. How does it feel to be a history-maker?
Thank you. It is such an unexplainable feeling. I am equally happy, excited and curious of what the future holds for me in athletics.
Tell us what went through your mind as you approached the finish line in the 100m final?
To achieve my dream of being the first Motswana to bring home an international Gold medal in a 100m race [In fact, it was the first medal of any colour Botswana ever won at an international competition!]. There were strong contenders in the finals. I told myself if I could beat these guys on the start then I’d be gone and none of them would catch me. Unfortunately, I had a tumble at the start and I had to double my speed and won the race right at the end.