Botswana's Letsile Tebogo showed disconnected his Paris 2024 golden medal to the Pope astatine the Vatican.
Fans person taken to societal media to taunt American sprinter Noah Lyles aft his Olympic rival, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana was granted an assemblage with Pope Francis astatine the Vatican.
The meeting, which took spot up of the Golden Gala Diamond League aft Tebogo's stunning triumph implicit Lyles successful the 200m last astatine the Paris 2024 Olympics, has sparked a flurry of comments online, galore of them taking jabs astatine the American athlete.
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As images of Tebogo's papal sojourn circulated online, fans were speedy to gully comparisons betwixt the Motswana sprinter and his American counterpart.
One idiosyncratic commented, "That's a definite 1 up connected Noah Lyles. How bash you apical that?" This sentiment was echoed by many, suggesting that Tebogo had not lone bested Lyles connected the way but was present outshining him disconnected it arsenic well.
Another instrumentality noted the unsocial quality of the visit, stating, "This yute is special. Respect due. I can't callback immoderate different way & tract personage making a courtesy telephone connected the Pope."
This remark further underscored the perceived spread betwixt Tebogo and different athletes, including Lyles.
The Papal Visit
During his sojourn to the Vatican, Tebogo, the recently crowned Olympic 200m champion, presented his Paris 2024 golden medal to Pope Francis.
The 21-year-old athlete besides received prayers for his precocious parent and had his Olympic-winning spikes blessed with the Holy Father's signature.
This gesture, seen by galore arsenic some humble and significant, has lone served to amplify the admiration for Tebogo and, consequently, the disapproval of Lyles.
The discourse for this societal media tempest stems from the caller Olympic last successful Paris, wherever Tebogo outclassed Lyles to assertion the golden medal successful the men's 200m event.
Tebogo's winning clip of 19.46 seconds not lone secured Botswana's first-ever Olympic golden medal but besides acceptable a caller African record.
Lyles, who had been favoured to win, had to settee for the bronze medal with a clip of 19.70 seconds, finishing down his teammate Kenny Bednarek who took metallic successful 19.62 seconds.
The American sprinter, known for his progressive societal media beingness and outspoken nature, has remained quiescent connected this latest development.