Learn from Usain Bolt: Letsile Tebogo urged to race sparingly to avoid damaging his body

Letsile Tebogo (left) emulates Usain Bolt (right) after his stunning win in Paris 2024 Olympics.

Learn from Usain Bolt: Letsile Tebogo urged to race sparingly to avoid damaging his body

Funmilayo Fameso 17:20 - 10.09.2024

New speed king Letsile Tebogo has been advised to follow Usain Bolt's footsteps to avoid a career-damaging effect on his body.

Botswana's Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo has been advised by track fans to follow Usain Bolt's footsteps by racing sparingly to avoid damaging his body.

The 22-year-old has been racing weekly since his historic feat in Paris, where he became Africa's first Olympic gold medallist in a sprint event, after winning the 200m title in a record of 19.46s. He also anchored Botswana's 4x400m relay team to a silver medal, finishing narrowly behind a Rai Benjamin-inspired USA team.

Letsile Tebogo anchored Botswana's 4x400m relay squad to a new African Record and Olympic silver medal // @ESPNAfrica

Since the end of his Olympic feat, Tebogo has raced at five different European competitions including four Diamond League meets, winning all his races.

He is scheduled to race again at the Brussels Diamond League, where he has qualified for the 100m and 200m events, and will be gunning to win both titles to add to his iconic collections this year.

Following his back-to-back running in the past month, a track fan has advised the new speed king to take a cue from the legendary Bolt to avoid damaging his body.

"Usain Bolt raced sparingly during his tenure. Tebogo should follow suit, otherwise he will burn himself out. Back-to-back races might over exert his body," wrote the fan.

Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt after the 2017 World Athletics Championships 100m race (Credit: Imago)

True to this, Bolt was known to only race in the right meet which helped him build up to a major championship and mostly concluded his season at the end of the championship.

Interestingly, Tebogo gave a justifiable reason for his backload of races post-Olympics, revealing during his post-race interview at Rome Diamond League that he's motivated to keep running for monetary reasons as he doesn't know when next he'll have an exceptional season like what he has had this year.

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