Paris : Letsile Tebogo snatched a stunning Olympic gold in the men’s 200m Thursday to deny Covid-hit Noah Lyles a sprint double, while LeBron James’ USA survived a huge scare from Serbia to reach the men’s basketball final. In another sparkling performance on the track at the Stade de France, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashed the world record to win the women’s 400m hurdles gold. The brash Lyles was keen to showcase his speed and endurance in his preferred 200m after winning one of the closest 100m finals in modern Olympic history.
But Botswana’s Tebogo stunned the American with a storming run, relegating Lyles to bronze and his US teammate Kenneth Bednarek to silver. The first African to win 200m gold, Tebogo clocked a continent-wide record time of 19.46sec, leaving a distraught Lyles prone on the track.
Lyles later revealed he had tested positive for Covid two days ago. “It was really a beautiful race for me,” Tebogo said. “When we made it to the final, my coach just told me, ‘Now my job is done, it’s up to you to see what you can do’,” he added.
The first ever gold medal for Botswana in the history of the OLYMPICS. Letsile Tebogo just did that !!️ 19.46 AREA RECORD in the men's 200m final 🤯 #Paris2024 #OlympicGames pic.
twitter.com/dR3JoYoKAu Hours later, Lyles said on social media his Games were likely over. “I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics,” the sprinter posted on Instagram.
The 400m women’s hurdles had been billed as .