'I abused my body' - Letsile Tebogo says after Diamond League season-finale performance

Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo admits that he “abused” his body at the close of the athletics season, but is still happy with how his year was, in huge parts to his heroic displays in Paris.

The 21-year-old, after establishing a new-found dominance in both the 200m and 100m events, saw his season come to an end in a rather disappointing fashion, as he was defeated by America’s Kenny Bednarek in Brussels to miss out on his first Diamond League trophy.

Speaking of his performance, which saw him lose his first race post-Olympics, he told CNN’s Larry Madowo: “I thought there would be some gas left in me, but from the blocks, I didn’t get that start because the body has shut down. I abused the body, so I feel like running this 19.80 is still fine for me.”

To put it into context, Tebogo had competed in five events in the 18 days leading up to the Diamond League final, winning all of them.

His first race after a record-breaking Paris Olympic Games came in Lausanne on Thursday 22 August, where he even admitted to not having taken part in training due to the overwhelming celebrations in his home country of Botswana.

What followed thereafter were wins in Silesia, Rome, Zurich, and Brescia.

“It's been a great season and I’ve done a lot of things…with that, it was not ideal for me to win the trophy, but there are more years to come,” Tebogo said.

The 4x400m relay Olympic silver-medalist however felt like one of his big goals had been achieved in 2024 saying: “I feel like it's been a good season since I am the Olympic champion. It's everybody’s dream to have that gold medal and I have it now. I am happy with it.”

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Asked about his preparations going into the 2025 season, Tebogo said that all that mattered to him was “to forget about athletics” before coming up with a proper plan.

“Next season, I’m not sure. We have to sit down and plan,” Tebogo said, adding that he would spend his time on the farm to take him away from any distractions. “For now, we have to forget about athletics, relax, and then after a few weeks, we shall be back.”