Botswana celebrates Letsile Tebogo's historic Olympic gold with new banknote

JOHANNESBURG - Botswana has printed a bank note featuring its first-ever Olympic gold medalist, Letsile Tebogo.

The 50 BWP (Pula) note was announced on Friday, the day of the bank’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The 22-year-old's image is printed on the left side of the currency note, occupying almost half of the note, while the remaining section is the image of Botswana’s 4x400 Metre Relay Team that won a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

Tebogo won his country’s first-ever gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics when he stormed to first place in the men's 200m final ahead of Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles. He also helped anchor the Botswana men's 4x400m relay to a silver medal.

The sprinter will compete in the 100m final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, after qualifying in the semi-final with a season’s best time of 9.94s.