In a race for the ages, Letsile Tebogo from Botswana bested Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles to take home Gold in the Men’s 200-meter Olympic Final. Tebego’s time was the fifth fastest time recorded in the 200-meter ever.
Lyles was hoping to win Gold in this event to match his earlier win in the 100-meter final. If he had succeeded, he would have been the first American to accomplish this feat in the Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984.
Tebogo was Ready
Tebogo, 21, looked to be in prime shape during the 200-meter heats. In the semifinals, he beat Lyles by a wide margin and looked strong doing it. He dedicated his win to his mother, who passed away at the age of 44 just this past May.
Tebogo spoke about this after the race. “It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field. She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy.”
Americans Go Two-Three-Four
Although it was a tough race for the American runners, they did finish in second, third, and fourth place behind Tebogo. Bednarek earned his second Silver in the event to match his earlier one from the Tokyo Games, and Lyles replicated his Bronze Medal from those Tokyo Games.
American Erriyon Knighton finished in fourth place. This was a great comeback for Knighton, who came back from not winning any medals in the Tokyo Games and surviving an overturned suspension for failing a drug test.
Lyles Runs with COVID-19
At the end of the race, Lyles collapsed on the ground, reaching for a water bottle. Obviously exhausted, the sense was that his asthma was acting up and that he was short of breath from the grueling racing schedule of the previous week.
When he was carted off of the track, NBC’s Lewis Johnson revealed that Lyles had contracted COVID-19 two days earlier. So it seems almost a miracle that he could run three heats of one of the most competitive races in the world with asthma and suffering from the coronavirus.
Tebogo Rules
With his win, Tebego became the first African male to win Olympic gold in the 200-meter event. He ran it in an astounding 19.45 seconds, the fastest 200-meter time in the world this year. And he is the youngest gold medalist in the event since Bobby Morrow accomplished the feat in 1956. At 21, the future looks very bright for the young sprinter.
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