Tebogo’s legs to ‘do the talking’ in Lyles 200m worlds battle

TOKYO: Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo said 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, where Lyles finished third.

Tebogo labeled his flamboyant American rival “arrogant” after the race, and Lyles’s outsized character is 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 do you want to see: to be on the spotlight or off the spotlight.

“For me, I choose off the spotlight and then just my legs do the talking.”

Lyles got the better of Tebogo in the 200m in the Diamond League finals in Zurich two weeks ago, edging the Botswanan by two-hundredths of a second.

The pair are also set to square off in the 100m in Tokyo.

Tebogo is looking to win his first world title after picking up silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m in Budapest two years ago.

He said he felt like “a hero” to Botswanans after his historic Olympic success but vowed not to change his approach in Tokyo.

“Once you invite pressure inside yourself, then it means you are not doing it for yourself, you are doing it for the people,” he said.

“Yes, you should do it for the people but it’s you first and then the people later.”

“Once you put pressure inside yourself, it