Heartwarming reason behind Letsile Tebogo’s shoe celebration after Olympics 200m glory

Letsile Tebogo signalled to television cameras after winning the men’s 200 metres final in a heartwarming tribute to his late mother.

The sprinter from Botswana claimed a surprised 200m gold on Thursday, beating overwhelming favourite Noah Lyles who had to settle for bronze after contracting COVID.

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The 21-year-old romped home to Olympic glory, claiming an African record of 19.46 seconds and finishing ahead of USA’s Kenneth Bednarek in second.

Tebogo, who finished in second place behind Lyles in the 100m final, performed an incredible turnaround in his first-ever Olympics.

And the star celebrated in touching fashion by showing his spikes to the camera in honour of his mum who passed away in May.

The shoe showed the birth date of his mother Seratiwa Tebogo who died after battling a long illness.

Seratiwa had been a big supporter of her son’s athletics career and often accompanied him to events.

Prior to the start of the Paris games, the sprinter spoke on the impact of his mother’s passing earlier this year.

“I’ve had such a huge blow that affected me deeply so I’m still trying to get the confidence back into the body,” he said. “It’s not about injuries, it is all about my mum.”

Tebogo made his family proud after announcing himself to the world in both sprint races at the Stade de France.

His heroics on Wednesday also handed Botswana its first-ever Olympic gold medal across any sport.

After winning gold, Tebogo said of his mother: “I believe she could be one of the happiest people on the planet because she believed in me and I had so much doubt for myself.”

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“It means a lot to the African continent because now they see Africa as a sprinting home,” he said. “So we just had to make sure that the message was loud and clear.”

“It didn’t take so long, they were just waiting for me to step up.”

Most of the talk after the 200m final centred around Lyles being wheeled off the track, having raced with COVID.

When asked in the post-race press conference if his 200m victory would catapult him into becoming the face of track and field, Tebogo took a thinly-veiled swipe at Lyles in his response.

“For me, I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or loud person like Noah,” Tebogo said.

“So I believe Noah’s the face of athletics.”