Botswana win first gold medal in Olympics history as Letsile Tebogo wins 200m
In the end it wasn’t even a race for the Olympic gold medal, nor one with any hint of a rivalry, it was simply Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once again running into another realm of her own in the women’s 400 metres hurdles, touching on the once seemingly impossible too.
In her fourth successive final, McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record for the fourth time, her 50.37 seconds obliterating the 50.65 she ran to win the US Olympic trials in June, and a time which would have left her just one place short of making the final of the 400m flat. Those 10 barriers clearly mean little to her.
With that the 25-year-old from New Jersey also put a full second and a half on US teammate Anna Cockrell, who passed the fading Dutch star Femke Bol in the final to take silver in 51.87, Bol holding on for bronze in 52.15.
Despite also breaking 51 seconds this year, running 50.95, Bol couldn’t get anywhere near McLaughlin-Levrone, who ran her first world record of 51.46 to win the gold medal in Tokyo, before improving that again to 50.68 to win the 2022 World Championship title.
Now she’s touching on the 50-second barrier, and leaving Bol further than the track than ever before.
“All you want to do in an Olympic final is to put up your best race,” said Bol, who had helped the Dutch win gold in the 4×400 mixed relay. “I screwed it up. I’m not sure where I made the mistake.”
Letsile Tebogo had his own motivation going into the men’s 200m, and the memory of his mother Seratiwa, who died after a short illness in May, aged 47.
In winning gold there in 19.46 seconds, the 21-year-old from Botswana also ran 100m champion Noah Lyles from the USA into third, Lyles later revealing he tested positive for Covid two days ago.
“It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field,” Tebogo said, explaining why his mother’s initials and date of birth were inscribed onto his spikes. “it gives me a lot of motivation. She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy. I didn’t want to put the date of her death, because I’ll get emotional.”
The southern African country of just over 2.3 million people, Botswana is also one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, and Tebogo becomes their first gold medal winner, and only second ever African sprint champion.
Grant Holloway from the USA ended his wait for the one title that eluded him, winning the 110m hurdles ahead his teammate Daniel Roberts, and Tara Davis-Woodhall won a second medal for the USA on the night, her victory in the long jump coming with a best of 7.10m
Pakistan’s Arshad Hadeem threw an extraordinary 92.97m to win the javelin, taking that crown from defending Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra from India who won silver his 89.45m.
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