Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo meets the Pope

In the past month, Letsile Tebogo’s life has completely changed. The 21-year-old Botswanian sprinter was crowned the Olympic 200m champion in Paris, upsetting American Noah Lyles with a blistering time of 19.46 seconds and securing his country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. A week later, upon returning to Botswana, Tebogo was welcomed by tens of thousands of fans who packed the national stadium in the capital city of Gaborone, eager to catch a glimpse of their golden sprinter.

On Wednesday afternoon, Tebogo fulfilled another lifelong dream by meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican before his appearance at the Rome Diamond League on Friday.

“It’s something I dreamed of as a child”

Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo on meeting @Pontifex at #RomeDL🇮🇹#DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/Ggl36epCKz

— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) August 29, 2024

“It’s something I dreamed of as a child,” Tebogo said during a Diamond League press conference on Thursday about meeting the Pope. During their meeting, Pope Francis and Tebogo shared a heartfelt moment, reportedly saying a prayer for Tebogo’s mother, who tragically passed away earlier this year at 43 due to breast cancer. The Pope was also pictured signing Tebogo’s spikes from his gold-medal-winning run in Paris. The spikes are engraved with his mother’s initials and her birthdate (23.12.1980).

On Friday, Tebogo will compete in the men’s 100m at the Rome Diamond League against a stellar field that includes Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs, two-time Olympic 100m medalist Fred Kerley and reigning world indoor 60m champion Christian Coleman. This will be Tebogo’s first 100m race since setting a national record of 9.86 seconds in the men’s 100m Olympic final, where he finished sixth in a fiercely contested race that saw eight men run under 9.95 seconds.

Tebogo’s journey in athletics began just five years ago, when he started sprinting barefoot in his hometown of Kanye. The following year, he transitioned to wearing shoes, won his national championships and decided to focus on athletics over soccer. “Running without shoes in Africa and in poor regions of the world is normal,” Tebogo remarked. He spoke about a strong desire to bring more funding to athletics in Africa to improve facilities, noting that Africa remains the only continent never to have hosted the Olympic Games.