PARIS — Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the Olympic 200-meter title on Thursday when he powered clear of American duo Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles in 19.46 seconds to claim Botswana’s first gold medal.
Lyles, the gold medalist in the 100 meters, embraced Tebogo and shuffled toward trackside seating before he dropped to the track and beckoned trainers. US Track announced post-race that Lyles was diagnosed with COVID two days ago.
Tebogo, who won bronze at the worlds last year and set a national record of 9.86 when finishing sixth in the Paris 100-meter final, produced a dominant run to become the fifth-fastest man in history over 200 meters. He repeated his preliminary round victory over Lyles in the same event.
Bednarek chased him all the way to take a second successive silver in 19.62 seconds, with Lyles behind and hoping to become the first American to complete the sprint double since Carl Lewis 40 years ago, finishing third in 19.67.
After US officials and NBC Sports said Lyles had COVID, a yellow card appeared against his name in the official results.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
