Letsile Tebogo: Electrifying scenes as more than 30,000 Batswana gather for their Olympic hero's homecoming

Over 30,000 Batswana gathered in their biggest stadium for the homecoming of their Paris 2024 Olympic hero Letsile Tebogo, who won their country's first gold medal in the Games history.

The youngster stunned pre-race favourite and world champion Noah Lyles to the 200m gold medal, clocking a blistering new lifetime best and African Record (AR) of 19.46s.

By doing this, the 21-year-old became Botswana and Africa's first Olympic gold medallist in any sprint event, thus cementing his name as one of the best sprinters to come out of the continent.

Not done with his iconic performance in the 200m, Tebogo displayed his speed prowess again in the men's 4x400m final as he anchored Botswana to the silver medal, recording the second-fastest split time of in history.

He came close to winning the gold medal as he made a move in the last 50m, but USA's Rai Benjamin held firm to bring Team USA to victory in a new Olympic Record of 2:54.43.

Notwithstanding, Bayapo Ndori, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi, Anthony Pesela, and Tebogo claimed the silver medal by breaking their African Record in a new 2:54.53, while Great Britain got the Bronze in an European Record of 2:55.83.

Following the record-breaking race, the official splits time showed the Botswanan with the fastest of 43.03s - the second-fastest in history behind the legendary Michael Johnson's 42.94s clocked in 1993.

Great Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith also had a fast time at 43.09s, while Benjamin's 43.18s finished as the third-fastest.

Tebogo's exceptional outing made him one of the standout performers in Paris, hence rating his talent as the top favourite to break Usain Bolt's sprint World Records.

His exploits will see the President of Botswana Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi declare a public holiday in the country for their speed king, a honour that has now been followed with another free day for his homecoming.

From the airport and all the streets in Botswana, thousands of people are gathered in blue, black, and white colours for their Olympic champion and medallists.

Below are more electrifying images and videos from the iconic occasion in honour of Tebogo.