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Letsile Tebogo Quotes

born 2003 Botswana

Letsile Tebogo ( born 7 June 2003) is a Botswana sprinter. He won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 200 metres event, with his win earning the first-ever Olympic gold medal for Botswana.

Botswana
Sportspeople

Random Letsile Tebogo quote

57 quotes

The support has been overwhelming. I believe this has changed my life and also impacted many lives in my home country.

It's different in every country. When you get to my country, they understand, they know and they feel when to just let me be.

I’m happy sport came in because there are a lot of youngsters who I know now are behind bars. Those are the same people that I used to hang around with.

It was sad to see only two nations rule the sport for decades.

The Olympic gold, it means a lot to the country, it means a lot to the African continent, because Africa is no longer known for the long-distance races.

I always think about her but I just try not to let it get into me that much and then just block it out and move forward.

I go to the flashbacks that I came from here and now I'm a global star.

That transition was what I’d been dreaming of since I started athletics—that was the validation of the potential I didn’t see growing up.

Shoes were more expensive and we couldn’t afford that because we lived with our extended family, so it was difficult for us to get things.

The value that shaped me is Botho.

Africans can be sprinters, too.

I used to train without shoes.

It’s a reminder that you carry more than just a flag when you compete abroad, you carry the dreams of the people you grew up with and the pride of your countrymen watching you at home.

So I used to train without shoes in both football and athletics. I would wear a pair of old pants that one of my uncles used to wear back when he was in school. It was just a generational thing.

I was scared, I didn’t know what to expect. Nobody knew who Letsile was back in 2023.

I felt like it was over for me—it was over for athletics. I just needed to hand in the boots. I didn’t have the confidence to go out there and do what I have to do.

That 19 seconds felt so peaceful.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Letsile Tebogo (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.