Botswana’s sprint sensation Letsile Tebogo has opened up about the mental and emotional challenges affecting his performances, admitting that the weight of expectations has become increasingly difficult to carry. The Olympic 200m champion endured a difficult spell before finding some redemption at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary last weekend.
Tebogo finished seventh in the 100m in 10.07 seconds, with American Kenny Bednarek winning the race in a season’s best 9.98 seconds. The result extended Tebogo’s winless run to three races, following a fourth-place finish in the 200m at the Diamond League final and an eighth-place finish in the 400m at the Brescia Grand Prix. However, he responded strongly in the 200m in Budapest, clocking 19.76 seconds to finish second behind Bednarek, who claimed gold. While Tebogo insisted that he remains physically and emotionally well, he acknowledged that several personal issues have affected his mental focus and, consequently, his performances on the track.
“I carry so many hopes and lives behind my back, so it is just too much, but we will pull through it,” he said. Despite his current struggles, Tebogo remains confident that he will rediscover the form that made him a global sprint star. “Everything is going to end very soon and you will see the Tebogo that you saw before in the upcoming seasons,” he promised.
“So many things are going on, but I will just let bygones be bygones,” Tebogo said in Budapest after his 100m race. Despite finishing seventh, the 23-year-old said he was satisfied with his performance, particularly given his recent struggles in the shorter sprint. “I am happy with today’s performance. Nobody imagined me in the top eight but, for me, that was the greatest achievement, looking at how the 100m has been going. I am grateful, even though we wanted the 10 seconds,” he said.
Tebogo suggested that the enormous expectations surrounding him may be contributing to his current difficulties. Since winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Paris in 2024, the sprinter has become one of Botswana’s most celebrated athletes. That success has brought increased attention, expectations and responsibility, both at home and internationally. “I am 100% okay. It is just something to do with the mental aspect,” Tebogo explained. “If physically and emotionally I am okay, then the other things we can see and find a way on how we can go through it.” He admitted that the pressure of representing an entire nation can sometimes feel overwhelming.
“I carry so many hopes and lives behind my back, so it is just too much, but we will pull through it,” he said. Despite his current struggles, Tebogo remains confident that he will rediscover the form that made him a global sprint star. “Everything is going to end very soon and you will see the Tebogo that you saw before in the upcoming seasons,” he promised.
Tebogo’s return to Budapest carried an additional emotional burden. It was in the Hungarian capital at the 2023 World Athletics Championships that he first announced himself on the global stage, with his mother, Seratiwa, watching proudly from the stands. However, his return this time came without his biggest supporter, who died from cancer in May 2024.
Tebogo shared an exceptionally close bond with his mother, a relationship she once described as being like that of “brother and sister”. Before travelling to Budapest, the sprinter admitted that returning without her would be emotionally challenging. “I haven’t really looked into the fact that I’m going now to Budapest without my mom,” he said. “It’s just been a bumpy ride having to think about it and having to continue with the grind.”
Despite the pain of her absence, Budapest remains a place of powerful memories for Tebogo. It was where his international breakthrough began, setting him on a path that eventually led to Olympic glory in Paris. When he won the 200m at the 2024 Olympic Games, becoming Botswana’s first Olympic champion, Tebogo paid tribute to his mother by inscribing her initials on his shoes and fingernails.
