Noah Lyles’ Olympics Antics Failed to Scare Letsile Tebogo Despite Champion’s Doubtful State

Noah Lyles is made for the big occasions, the highest stakes, the pressure of the whole world watching. Many would flinch. But he thrives off it. “This is what I prayed for, is what I dream of … I get more excited the bigger the crowd is,” the track and field superstar said in July 2024 before he would embark on his 2024 Paris Olympics campaign.

And part of his game is using his mind games, the showmanship, and the outside psychological noise to destroy the opponent’s spirits even before they take the starting blocks. It works like a routine every time, or should we say, most times. Because, in Paris, on the biggest stage, on the biggest occasion, his opponent didn’t flinch. Rather, Letsile Tebogo straight up took up the challenge as he recently shared in the ‘Built for Speed | The Letsile Tebogo Story’ documentary, shared by World Athletics.

The world now knows the then 21-year-old sprinter from Botswana made history by becoming the first African men’s Champion in the 200m dash. But he wasn’t that assured of his capabilities. Not until his coach told him otherwise. “The last run, when I did the bend with the coach, he told me that you are ready. You don’t know it, but you are ready.” Still lacking faith in himself a bit, but he trusted his coach. “I had doubts at first, but I just took his words and locked them in.”

And that would be the barrier that even Noah Lyles couldn’t break through. “I had to make sure I am not distracted by anything, no matter what my opponent is doing,” the Paris Champion remarked. “Just continue being locked in.”

Soon enough, the test would start. As soon as the introductions were done and one by one the sprinters came out, there was Tebogo on the Stade de France track in front of a packed stadium. And Noah Lyles joined him with his usual theatrics, jumping and waving and crossing across the lanes, while asking fans to raise the cheers. Make it electric, get the adrenaline flowing.

Noah Lyles was laying down the challenge to the rest of the field. He is already pulsing and raring to go. Can you? Well, Letsile Tebogo saw it a bit differently. “He passed in front of me. Jumped and did all that, and in my mind, I am like, ‘Okay, he’s ready now. I’m also ready. Let’s see how we can do this.” Guess it was all in reverse as far as Tebogo was concerned. And it showed.

“When the gun went, I didn’t stumble,” the 2023 World Athletics Championships silver medalist said. “And I knew if I don’t stumble, then I can win the race.” The Botswana runner started a bit slow but picked up the pace after the first curve. And the rest is history, rooted in focus and strength of preparation.

This, even Lyles’ mind games, couldn’t unnerve. And he is generally good at it. After all, the American has won all of his last thirty-two 200m sprints, except for two. Those two at the Paris Olympics, both times, Tebogo was the winner. But Lyles has gotten his revenge since then.

Noah Lyles has been getting the better of his Paris competitor lately

On the biggest occasion, Letsile Tebogo flipped the script on the American. But Noah Lyles holds the bigger edge over his younger competitor. Overall, Lyles has a 4-2 head-to-head record against Tebogo in 200m sprints. If you take only the finals, it becomes 4-1. Quite skewed, one might just say. And 2 of the wins Lyles achieved since July.

On July 11, Lyles clocked 19.88 seconds to win the Monaco Diamond League. It was his first Diamond League win of the season, earned by beating Tebogo, who came in second at 19.97 seconds. And Lyles continued his unbeaten Diamond League run going at Zurich on August 28. This time, the 28-year-old American clocked 19.74 seconds, two-hundredths of a second ahead of the Botswana sprinter.

After the race, both sprinters mentioned one another in their responses, and just maybe, we are seeing the dawn of a rivalry. “I already knew that Tebogo was going to get out, because every time we’re in a race, he tries to get off really hard,” Noah Lyles said, as per the New York Times. “Even though I’ve watched a lot of the races, he won’t give as much energy for other people, so I guess I’ll consider that a very big compliment. So I knew that he was going to be out there.”

Meanwhile, Tebogo thinks Lyles is still being humble. “I think now, Lyles is humble. He knows what can happen in this sport — he wins today, tomorrow, he can lose it. I believe since Paris, he has been humble, he has not been talking so much.” And speaking about the race, the 22-year-old also said, “This is not my true potential right now.”

Well, we will get to see soon enough who’s the ultimate champion. The Tokyo World Athletics Championships are just days away, now. Noah Lyles will want to match a Usain Bolt record. Letsile Tebogo will want to humble Noah Lyles again. Let’s see what happens!