From football winger to world's top athlete, Letsile inspires young athletes

It’s strange how fortunes change. Career dreams are always shaped at childhood –with the hope of making it big.

But, like some top Kenyan athletes, Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, defied the rulebook. He worked hard while a small boy, nursed huge football career dreams and hoped to excel like some other African footballers in plying their trade in top flight leagues across the globe. Oops! His lofty dreams crash-landed before take-off.

Brave and determined even as he shrugged off peer pressure for criminal activities, Letsile remained focused. He made an obtuse thought: switched from football to athletics after taking counsel from Mogomotsi Otsetswe, his first coach. He’s now coached by Kebonyemodisa Dose Mosimanyane.

On Wednesday, he earned a precise gift for his decisive move as he was unveiled as World Athletics Kids Athletics programme ambassador.

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Kids' Athletics is an exciting, free programme designed to get children and young people moving around the globe, using the power of athletics as it inspires kids to be active, build their skills and confidence, and develop a lifelong connection to the sport.

The programme, World Athletics says, is based on a modified athletics model, structured across three levels for children aged four to 14. And it focuses on maximising participation, fun and enjoyment through modified competitions, and its holistic approach supports physical, social and emotional development.

“Initially, I was a left-wing footballer before picking up athletics. But through this sport, I knew I had to go to school and for training, and when you train, you get tired, and you don’t have that time to roam the streets and to go into people’s houses. No time to think of crime,” he said.

World Athletics says Kids' Athletics was originally created in 2002, which was unveiled after a comprehensive review and update in 2021, where it became available digitally, making it more inclusive, flexible, adaptable, and enjoyable for young people, teachers, and coaches –which has been implemented by 150 member federations, and the programme has reached an estimated 13 million children and young people worldwide.

Letsile’s ambassadorial role for World Athletics Kids programme was announced on the same grounds Letsile used to train on during his junior school years. Nine schools, including the one Letsile attended, were in attendance.

He is delighted for his switch from football to athletics, saying it inspires talent far beyond Botswana.

“I loved football so much. I was a left-winger, but my teachers in primary school discovered my athletics talent and forced me to take up athletics, which was not popular in Botswana by then. Everything was football, and athletics was part-time for me. I am grateful to athletics and love to inspire more kids,” he said.

Letsile joins a handful of Kenya’s global athletics big shots who switched from other sports or careers to athletics.

Eliud Kipchoge, the Greatest Marathoner of All Time, played volleyball in his rural home after completing Form Four at Kaptel High School in Nandi County and later took up athletics.

Nickson Chepseba, a former World Athletics Diamond League Trophy winner, also switched from volleyball to athletics.

While a student at St Patrick’s High School Iten, Chepseba led his team to nationals in volleyball. During Rift Valley volleyball contests, he battled siblings in former world 400m hurdles champion, the late Nicholas Bett and former Africa 400m hurdles bronze medallist Haron Koech, who were students at Cheptil High School in Nandi County.

Ferguson Rotich, the 2019 world 800m bronze medallist, was a high jumper while at Kejiriet Primary School in Kericho County.

Julius Yego, the 2015 world javelin champion, was a football striker while a student at Kapsabet Boys High School.

Two-time world marathon winner Edna Kiplagat, who lined up for Boston Marathon, says she gave up football for athletics after her games teacher advised her to try her luck in the sport. Although she was a classmate of 2008 Chicago Marathon champion Evans Cheruiyot, she harboured little interest in athletics.

Two-time Berlin Marathon winner Florence Kiplagat was a good footballer while a student at Sergoit Secondary School in Elgeyo Marakwet County. She competed against Edna who was at the nearby Kipsoen Secondary School.

Other football strikers who became track stars include three-time world 3,000m steeplechase champion Moses Kiptanui (Marakwet High School), 2011 world 1,500m silver medalist Silas Kiplagat (Chebara High School) and road racer Nelson Kirwa (Kitany Boys). World 100m and 200m record holder Usain Bolt was a cricket player.

For Geoffrey Kamworor, he had an unbridled love for athletics from his childhood but haboured no interest in full-time athletics.

He did not look outside his village for inspiration –he comes from a region with a rich athletics pedigree in 5,000m and 10,000m.

Within a radius of 10-kilometres from his home in Keiyo South lives the world’s long distance greats, among them 2018 London Marathon winner Vivian Cheruiyot, former Military Games 5,000m champion Sammy Kipketer and Kenyan-turned-Qatari Albert Chepkurui.

As a young boy, Kamworor could sneak away from home during weekends to the nearby athletics-rich Kapkenda Girls High School, where he peeped through the live fence to watch athletics world beaters training.

Not bad for a man who did well in English and had trained his sights to become a lawyer. Incidentally, he is a policeman.