Tebogo leads Botswana relay team to qualify for Olympics

World Athletics silver medalist, Letsile Tebogo has anchored Botswana's 4×100m relay team to claim a place among the 2024 Olympic Games contenders.

At the ongoing African Championships in Douala, they completed their semi-final race in 38.19secs, pushing them towards the ranking required to qualify for the Olympics in Paris, knocking the Netherlands off the 16th spot.

The Netherlands had previously occupied the 16th position spot with a time of 38.30s.

However, Botswana’s 38.19secs recorded in the semi-finals of the African Athletics Championships, puts Tebogo and his teammates ahead to qualify for the Olympics.

It was also a national record for the quartet, made up of Thapelo Monaiwa, Mothusi Boitshwarelo, Tumo Van Wyk, and Tebogo, who powered to a national record of 38.19s at the African Senior Athletics Championships, 

Now, Tebogo and his teammates will have to wait till the June 30 deadline to know if they have not been knocked off the 16th position mark for the Olympics.

It was a remarkable U-turn for Tebogo, a 100m silver medalist and a 200m bronze medalist in the 2023 World Championships as he false started his 100m semi-final race in Douala on Saturday. 

That cost him a place in the final and a chance to win a continental medal.

But that miss may have been compensated with a ticket to enable his relay team compete in the Olympics as he is already Paris bound as a world athlete.