“I think he had a perfect race,” Kenny Bednarek stated in response to a question about 200-meter gold medalist Letsile Tebogo’s race execution, as featured in the post-race interview, uploaded to Citius Mag’s YouTube channel.
The Botswanan prodigy astonished everyone in the final stretch by taking a massive lead and maintaining a race-winning margin over the American competitors, Bednarek and Noah Lyles, who finished second and third, respectively.
The silver medalist stated that he believed he had the speed to dominate the race, but despite trying various methods to gain a lead over Tebogo, the 21-year-old was flawless throughout the race.
“I’ve never seen him get out of the curve like that before. So, my mindset was to get out and lead the race and try to maintain that, and Letsile was right there with me. He had the better execution.”
Bednarek was as startled as the spectators, and he had nothing but respect for his opponent’s strategy in defeating him and winning the gold medal. The 25-year-old also admitted that Tebogo’s pace at the Stade de France was nothing new in the track scene, saying:
“It’s no surprise. We’ve seen what he’s been able to do before. I always knew he was capable of this so you know congrats to him.”
“I knew I had to match Kenny’s start first,” Tebogo responded to his American rival’s statement.
The Botswanan athlete further stated that the track community was well aware of Bednarek’s dominant form in the curve of these 200-meter sprints, which was also the primary focus of his training prior to the Paris Olympics.
“I had to match and execute everything that we did in training, because the first time when I started my training for the Olympics, we perfected the curve, each and every day without fail.”
HISTORY for Letsile Tebogo!!!
He wins GOLD in the men’s 200m at the #Paris2024 Olympics in an African Record of 19.46s!!
• First person ever from Botswana to win GOLD at an Olympic Games
• First African medal in the event since 1996 pic.twitter.com/1FTTzGbhBx
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) August 8, 2024
Tebogo was aware that he did not have a favorable start, but he never worried. To keep up with Bednarek, the athlete continued to improve his pace.
When Tebogo caught his American adversary in the final stretch of the race, he realized he needed to use the 400-meter strategy in the 200-meter sprint and simply reveal his entire pace.
After finishing the race, the 21-year-old not only won the gold medal at the Stade de France, but he also broke the African record with a 19.46-second mark.
