Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo has raised concerns about the lack of investment in Athletics particularly in Africa calling on leaders to do better.
The road to Brussels starts to shape up as round 13 of the 15th edition of the Diamond League is set to take effect on Friday, 30th August, 2024 in Rome, Italy.
Tebogo, who remains unbeaten since he won the Olympic 200m gold is set to feature in the 100m race on tomorrow in a now or never as the race is the only means of increasing his chances of participating in the Diamond League final on September 13 and 14.
In a press conference with the media earlier on Thursday, Tebogo bemoaned the lack of investment in athletics and admonished authorities of African countries to channel their attention to athletics rather than solely focusing on football.
“The government is the government and it is hard for you to convince them to do something they are not willing to do especially in Africa, because they more believe that football is the go to but we have done our best. Akini did his part in South Africa, Faith did in Kenya, [and] I also did my part. So it is very hard to convince the government for them to invest in athletics.
“We have proven ourselves good enough in the past two years but still we have not seen any change. So I believe after the Olympics I will see a change of which I have not put any expectations to it because the more I expect, the more I get disappointed. So I will see if they will do it. If they do not do it we still gonna use what we have.”
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Tebogo has been on a hot streak since winning the Monaco Diamond League meeting ahead of this year’s Olympic Games and his hot form continued in the Olympics as the 21-year-old stole the show in Paris 2024 where he cruised to victory in an African record of 19.46s which ranks the fifth fastest ever.
Despite attaining such height in the Olympics, where he became the first African to win gold over the distance, and the first Botswanan to annex gold at the Olympics, Tebogo still believes he is not the face of African athletics.
“Even today, I’m still not the face of African athletics, Noah changed the sports which I believe he did. I haven’t changed anything I just came in and won the gold medal that is all I did but Noah has been there consistently throughout the years so I think after being consistent also, I will say I can be the face of African athletics. But when you talk they will say he won the African first gold medal but in reality, we know if there is somebody who could be there (Face of Africa Athletics) it’s still Noah.”
Having already secured a ticket in the Diamond League 200m final where Tebogo would be aiming to break the competition’s record, the new track star need to overcome the likes of Fred Kerley, Kishane Thompson and Marcel Jacobs ,among others tomorrow in the 100m to grab a ticket to the Diamond League 100m finals.
Story by Rabbi Adu Agyei
