Tebogo Letsile reacts to questions about being the new face of athletics after defeating Noah Lyles to win gold medal in the 200m sprint event on August 8, Thursday.
The Botswana sprinter made a win for his home country and the African continent.
He was asked after winning the men’s 200m final if he aspires to world records and being the face of track and field.
In response, Tebogo said, “I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah (Lyles).”
The interview has gone viral on social media and it’s garnered mixed reactions.
“As an African and a speaker of English as a second language, I perfectly understand what Tebogo says here and I do not think he actually meant to call Noah arrogant in a negative way. I think he just meant to say he’s not as loud as Noah and doesn’t have the same positive arrogance (energy) of Noah. I don’t know the context of the question and whether there was condescension implied in asking it, but knowing Tebogo, he’s quite humble and respectful and I don’t think he meant to disrespect Noah,” a Twitter user wrote.
“This is an English translation mistake – it is not a malicious statement,” another user wrote.
