Letsile Tebogo returned to winning ways in Lausanne after a five-week break from competition, following a shock defeat to 18-year-old American Tate Taylor in Eugene. Back in July, Taylor defeated the Olympic champion in the 200m, while Tebogo finished second in 19.93. At that time, Tebogo admitted, “I feel like there’s more that I could have done.” Just over a month later, he delivered the perfect response on the track, but he made sure that he was no longer chasing every victory at the expense of his mental health.

On August 21, the 23-year-old Botswana star returned to the Diamond League in Lausanne, Switzerland, and immediately looked like an athlete who had made good use of his time away from competition. Tebogo finished with a clean sweep in the 200m as she cruised to victory with a time of 19.87 seconds, with South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile picking up the silver medal in 19.98 seconds.

Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba completed the podium in 20.14, but neither finisher could really pose a threat to Tebogo once he got going. The Olympic champion got off to a fast start and held onto the lead all the way.

 Dambile and Charamba tried to stay within reach, but Tebogo gradually pulled clear. By the final 20 metres, he had already created enough separation to ease toward the finish. It was exactly the kind of return Tebogo would have wanted after spending five weeks away from competition. 

After the race, Tebogo explained that his main focus in Lausanne was getting the early part of the race right. “For me, it was all about running the curve and executing the first 150 metres, then seeing how the race developed,” he said. That approach is different from Tate, as his plan was to stay with the pack before building through the race and relying on his straightaway speed in the closing stages.

That approach worked perfectly for the 18-year-old American in Eugene, who produced a stunning 19.75 seconds to defeat one of the biggest names in the 200m. But after that, instead of rushing straight back into competition, Tebogo spent the “last five weeks I have been focused on training hard in the gym.”

That work clearly paid off when he stepped onto the Lausanne track.  As he says, “Now it’s about enjoying every race in this final part of the ​season so that it doesn’t take a toll on my mental health.” That attitude is something Tebogo has had to deal with through a much tougher experience than losing on the track.

The loss that almost took Letsile Tebogo away from athletics

2024 was a pivotal year in Tebogo’s Olympic journey as he lost his beloved mother, Seratiwa Tebogo, just months prior to the Paris Games.  At that time, thinking of the sport was difficult for Tebogo. 

“The first few days or few weeks after my mum died were super-difficult for me because I thought it was the end of the world, the end of my career, the end of everything I have tried to accomplish,” Tebogo said. He eventually stepped away from training and competition for about a month as he tried to process what had happened.

At that point, Tebogo was not simply trying to recover physically. He had to find a reason to return to the sport he had built his life around. “For me, I have to find the reason why I started my athletics journey and why I should continue going on,” he said. He eventually found that reason and carried his mother’s memory with him to Paris.

Before the Olympic 200m final, Tebogo placed his mother’s date of birth, December 23, 1980, on his spikes. He deliberately chose her birth date rather than her date of death because seeing the latter would have made him too emotional. Then came one of the biggest moments of his career. Tebogo won the Olympic 200m in 19.46 seconds, giving Botswana its first Olympic gold medal. 

That experience helps put his latest comments in Lausanne into perspective. Tebogo has already learned that the pressures surrounding athletics can become deeply personal. Now, as another long season reaches its final stages, he is making sure that chasing victories does not come at the cost of his mental well-being. And there is still a major target waiting for him.

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest is scheduled for September. Tebogo had already made clear earlier in the season that he was looking toward that period, saying after the Rabat Diamond League, “September, it’s all gas, no brakes.” That ambition has not disappeared. If anything, his Lausanne victory showed that he is still capable of producing at the highest level.