Tebogo says he and Lyles are friendly rivals after “arrogant” remark in Paris

By Lori Ewing

Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo said he and Noah Lyles have a friendly relationship, clarifying remarks he made about his American rival being “arrogant” after beating him for gold in the 200 metres at last year’s Paris Games.

Tebogo, who captured Botswana’s first Olympic title, raised eyebrows in his post-race press conference when he said he could not be the face of athletics because he was not “an arrogant or loud person like Noah” who embraces being a showman.

“When you get onto the track, it’s all about business,” Tebogo said in a video call on Wednesday. “(But) when we finish, you can be friends, life goes on.

“But the ‘arrogance’ … he’s good to sell our sport. But with me, I’ll always shy away from doing that because that’s me.”

Tebogo blazed to a time of 19.46 seconds in the Paris 200m final, making him the