Tebogo: Botswana President Declares Public Holiday After Huge Paris 2024 Win

Tebogo: Botswana President Declares Public Holiday After Huge Paris 2024 Win

  • Letsile Tebogo has brought joy to Botswana citizens as the country's President declared a public holiday to celebrate his victory in Paris
  • The 21-year-old put his country on the global map after winning the gold medal in the men's 200-metre race at the 2024 Olympic Games
  • Netizens have shared their different thoughts on Botswana's president's decision to celebrate Tebogo's win with a public holiday

Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win a gold medal in the men's 200m after defeating two United States of America sprinters in the final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The 21-year-old broke the African record after finishing first in 19.46s, ahead of Kenneth Bednarek and event's favourite Noah Lyles.

Botswana's president declares public holiday to after Tebogo's win at Paris 2024.
Letsile Tebogo of Team Botswana crosses the finish line to win the gold medal in the Men's 200m Final at Stade de France on August 8, 2024, in Paris, France. Photo: Andrzej Iwanczuk.
Source: Getty Images

Tebogo: President declares public holiday in Botswana

According to a post by Making of Champions on X, Botswana's president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, has declared a 'half-day public holiday' across the country to celebrate the sprinter after winning the gold medal in the 200m race.

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Paris 2024: Tebogo pulls off Cole Palmer's celebration before defeating Lyles

"Public Holiday in Botswana🇧🇼 The president of Botswana has declared a 'half-day public holiday' across the country to celebrate Letsile Tebogo, the country's first athlete to win a GOLD medal at the Olympics.
"Botswana citizens will get an 'afternoon day off' on Friday as a tribute to Tebogo who brought joy to their country on Thursday, winning the GOLD medal in men's 200m; the first African to win this title."

Reactions as Masisi declares Public Holiday in Botswana

Ogbeni__Skrtel said:

"Again, it should not always be what has your country done for you, but also what have you done for your country? Here, the entire 2.7m Botswanians will enjoy a public holiday because of the sensationalism of One Man."

Emmalex_8 wrote:

"What a feat and celebration being the first person to ever win a gold medal in the Olympics. Congrats to the Athlete Himself for taking the world of Athletics in surprise ,I do believe no one saw this coming even him but I would love if he can build on this."

Read also

Paris 2024: Lyles sends message to Tebogo after he beat him in 200m final

Aa4ke commented:

"Happy for him to my bones. But why make a public holiday? How much is half day of work worth to their economy? I believe our Champ should be honored, but the holiday thing sounds funny to me."

_Advocate1 reacted:

"History maker."

Lyles sends message to Tebogo after he beat him in 200m final

Briefly News earlier reported that Noah Lyles sent a congratulatory message to Letsile Tebogo after losing to him in the 200m final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The 100m Olympic champion acknowledged the Botswana athlete had a rough year after his mother passed on but went on to win.

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Raphael Abiola avatar

Raphael Abiola (sports editor) Raphael Abiola is a Nigerian Sports Journalist with over seven years of experience. He obtained a B.Tech degree in Computer Science from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, in 2015. Raphael previously worked as a football editor at Stakegains (2016-2018) and a content editor with Opera News Nigeria (2018-2023). Raphael then worked as an Editor for the Local Desk at Sports Brief (2023-2024). Reach him via email at raphael.abiola@sportsbrief.com.