I cannot tell you how many times I fought back tears on Thursday night (August 15) as I, like the rest of the nation, watched Letsile Tebogo’s exploits at the Paris Olympics.
As Schoolboy stormed to a historic victory in the 200m, the voice of his dearly departed mum, Seratiwa ‘Sthando-same’ Tebogo resounded in my ear.
In a Mother’s Day interview with Voice Woman (The Joys of Motherhood – Catching up with Schoolboy’s mum) a week before her demise in May, Seratiwa revealed her wish was for her son, “To remain humble. Not for the world stage to in any way make him feel bigger than anyone.”
“He is just the boy next door. You should see him at the cattlepost doing everything any Motswana child does.”
Indeed, the world witnessed that humility on the grandest sporting stage of them all.
After gliding to Gold, the 21-year-old Kanye wonder kid demonstrated great sportsmanship and embraced his fellow sprinters while Noah Lyles of USA instead attempted to draw attention to himself, with claims of a Covid-19 infection after coming in a distant third.
This, following Lyles widely-criticized antics on the track minutes before the start of the memorable race.
In a post-race press briefing that went viral at the weekend, Schoolboy was happy to leave the title of the ‘face of the athletics’ to his American counterpart.
“I think, for me, I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah.
So, I believe Noah is the face of athletics,” he told the world media.
If anything, the local sprint sensation has reshaped the face of athletics, not only in the country but throughout the continent.
Despite his difficult circumstances, Letsile chose to pay homage to his mum.
“It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field… She’s watching up there, and she’s the happiest person in the world.”
A ‘hyperactive’ little lad who outran peers at primary school and went on to represent the country in Namibia through the Botswana Primary Schools Sports Association (BOPSSA) at the age of 12, bringing home a silver medal in 200m, Letsile first made waves in the U20 World Championships, setting a record in the 100m event in Cali, Colombia with a time of 9.91 seconds.
At the just-ended 2024 Paris Olympics, the youngster set yet another national record of 9.86 in the 100m and an African record of 19.46 and 2:54.53 in the 200m and 4x400m relay respectively.
Letsile is certainly the ‘one to watch’ in 2028!
His triumph on the Olympic tract has gained him millions of fans and well-wishers across the globe.
Sadly, Seratiwa departed before she could watch her son make history, but we thank her for raising a level-headed champion!
Even as I write this, my vision blurs from time to time.
I lost a child 20 months ago; Letsile lost his mum only 3 months back.
Losing a loved one can be an extremely traumatic experience.
I often liken grief to being cast away at sea; sometimes floating atop calm capillary waves, other times tossed about by a raging tempest.
Thankfully, he is back home with family after a hectic last three months and, as Seratiwa happily shared, Letsile “is always in the good hands of his Coach, Kebonyemodisa ‘Dose’ Mosimanyane, whom their bond has grown from coach to father, brother and friend, I’m always assured of his well-being.”
As we celebrate our young icon, let us also allow him some much-needed rest and time to adjust.
In the interim, Letsile and the rest of the team Botswana’s heroics have opened up conversations on matters relating to athletes’ marketing and brand management, and challenges of the local sporting fraternity like lack of infrastructure in far-flung parts of the country to unearth more talent.
The need to follow mmagwe Letsile’s example, who identified and nurtured her son’s talent in his formative years cannot be overstated; sport is a generator of lucrative employment.
Personally, I would love to see public schools have swimming pools and, of course, like everyone else, I look forward to the return of school sports.
Hopefully, we will be able to send more athletes to Los Angeles to represent the country in 2028.
Congratulations to our amazing athletes!
