President Mokgweetsi Masisi declared Tuesday afternoon a public holiday as Botswana prepared to celebrate sprinter Letsile Tebogo’s historic 200m gold medal, the first in the country’s history.
Botswana’s Olympic team was set to return on Tuesday with Tebogo’s gold and a silver medal in the men’s 4x400m relay, bringing the nation’s total Olympic medal count to four.
Tebogo, 21, made history by becoming the first African to win the men’s 200m, setting a new African record with a time of 19.46 seconds.
He outran Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles in Paris on August 8. A government statement confirmed that the president would welcome the Olympic team at the airport.
Tebogo is only the second African athlete to earn an Olympic medal in the men’s 200m, following Namibian Frankie Fredericks, who won silver in Atlanta in 1996. Botswana’s first Olympic medal came at the 2012 London Games, where Nijel Amos took silver in the 800m, and the men’s 4x400m relay team secured bronze at Tokyo 2020.
