Paris, August 9
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo crossed the finish line as the new 200m Olympic champion at the ongoing Paris 2024 on Thursday.
The rising star from Botswana stormed to victory in an African record of 19.46 seconds in front of a roaring Stade de France crowd denying pre-race favourite Noah Lyles the coveted sprint double, as per Olympics.com.
Lyles, who won the Olympic 100m title in dramatic fashion on Sunday, finished third behind fellow American Kenneth Bednarek (19.62) to take bronze in 19.70.
Immediately after the race, Lyles revealed that he tested positive for COVID. The track superstar had to be helped off the track in a wheelchair.
Tebogo dedicated his country's first-ever Olympic gold to his mother Elizabeth Seratiwa, who passed away last May. He showed his spikes, displaying her date of birth to the cameras and the initials of her name painted on his fingernails.
"I believe she could be one of the happiest people on the planet. Because she believed in me and I had so much doubt for myself" said an emotional Tebogo who had won 200m bronze at last year's world championships as quoted by Olympics.com.
Later in the day, India's Neeraj Chopra fell short of retaining his gold medal in the men's javelin throw at the ongoing marquee event securing silver with a best throw of 89.45 meters.
Chopra's best throw came on his second attempt, but he struggled with four consecutive foul throws, which prevented him from winning gold.
After post-independence, Neeraj Chopra became the second male athlete to win two Olympic medals in an individual event.
His first and third attempts were invalidated by red flags, and his final three attempts were also fouls.
Despite his strong performance in the qualification round, where he threw 89.34 meters, Chopra could not surpass his season best in the final.
His 89.45-meter throw was his second-best performance but not enough to retain his gold.