Botswana spriter Letsile Tebogo won gold in the 200-meter men’s final on Thursday (August 8)
It seems there could be a feud brewing between two well-known sprinters in the Olympics.
Paris 2024’s track and field events started on August 1 and will run until the end of the Games on Sunday (August 11).
Arguably these events have become some of the most talked about sports at the Olympics this year with a handful of incidents having happened.
From French athlete Anthony Ammirati catching his manhood on the pole vault bar to two runners coming to blows after an on-track incident during the 5,000m race – it’s safe to say the Games have been pretty explosive.
And the 5,000m athletes aren’t the only ones butting heads as Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo seemingly made a jibe about Team USA‘s Noah Lyles following the 200m final.
Lyles has made his aspirations to take home gold at the Games pretty clear and clearly has a lot of confidence, so much so he painted ‘ICON’ onto his fingernails.
While the 27-year-old won gold in the 100m final, he failed to bag the top spot in the 200m event yesterday (August 8), with Tebogo proving victorious.
Lyles – who later revealed he had been suffering with Covid – came in third place, with his fellow Team USA runner Kenny Bednarek coming in second.
Letsile Tebogo defeated Noah Lyles in the 200m final. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Following the run the athletes took part in a press conference and Tebogo appeared to waste no time in making a dig at his competitor Lyles.
Tebogo was asked if he aspired to be ‘the face of track and field’ following in the footsteps of celebrity athletes like Usain Bolt.
He replied to the question: “I think, for me, I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah [Lyles].”
The runner, who is six years Lyles’ junior, added: “I believe Noah is the face of athletics.”
People online have since reacted to Tebogo’s remarks and they’re all just surprised as us.
“Lmaoooooooo Tebogo’s response to a question asking if he would like to be the face of athletics is SENDINGGG ME,” one person tweeted.
Meanwhile someone else pointed out that Lyles’ teammate Bednarek was seemingly trying to conceal his smile following Tebogo’s comment.
Someone else argued that Tebogo won’t have meant any disrespect, however.
“If you’re African. You’d know he’s not trying to be arrogant or attack anyone,” they wrote. “That response would sound different in his own language. He’s trying to say that Noah has the right energy for bringing eyes/sponsorship to athletics… It’s just the way we speak, he wasn’t hating.”
