Everyone was buzzing about Letsile Tebogo heading into the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The Botswanan sprinter was coming in hot as the reigning Olympic 200m champion and had been named World Athlete of the Year. Tebogo, at just 22, was shouldering not just the hopes of his nation but those of an entire continent. He had made history as Botswana’s first Olympic gold medalist just a year earlier in Paris.

His incredible journey from a football hopeful to the latest icon in world sprinting—thanks to inspiration from Usain Bolt—has caught the world’s attention, making him one of the most fascinating stories in the championships.

In a devastating turn of events, Tebogo’s 100m campaign ended in heartbreak during the final when he was disqualified for a false start, eliminating

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