Tokyo world championships: Letsile Tebogo’s legs to ‘do the talking’ in Noah Lyles showdown
Softly spoken Botswana Olympic champion and ‘arrogant’ American rival set to square off in the 100m, 200m races from Saturday
Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo said on Tuesday he would let his “legs do the talking” in his battle with brash American Noah Lyles at the world championships in Tokyo.
The softly spoken Botswanan won his country’s first Olympic gold medal in any sport in Paris last year, when Lyles finished third.
Tebogo labelled his flamboyant American rival “arrogant” after the race, and Lyles’ outsize character was likely to command the global spotlight again when the world championships begin on Saturday.
Tebogo said he was comfortable with having “different personalities” in the sport, as he took part in an event with children at a primary school in Tokyo.
“I’m one person who always shies away from the media, but the sport forces me to step up, up my game into becoming a sports personality,” said the 22-year-old.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about what you want to see: to be on the spotlight or off the spotlight.