Letsile Tebogo, the new Usain Bolt: the reasons (and unreasons) of the comparison

• Profile An imprisoned father and 13 children under the same roof: the childhood of Fred Kerley, the new king of speed

The new

.

The new Usain Bolt.

The new Usain Bolt.

Nobody should be considered the new Usain Bolt.

It is exaggerated.

It's overwhelming.

Is a lie.

But...

Meet

.

A 19-year-old boy from Botswana -yes, from Botswana-, much shorter than Bolt (1.70 meters) and more muscular (85 kg).

He doesn't run like the Jamaican, he doesn't move like the Jamaican and, above all, he doesn't smile like the Jamaican, although he also dances with the wind.

In the last few weeks he has broken the U-20 world record for the 100m twice and has set it at 9.91 seconds.

That extraordinary brand has served to be compared to Bolt in the media around the world, but there is a trick: Bolt at his age did not run 100 meters.

He didn't do it until he was 20 and 21, in fact he already set a new absolute world record (9.69).

In an athletics lacking in stars, idols capable of overcoming their borders, Tebogo has become known for his record in the U-20 World Cup in Cali, but the nickname can be condemnation.

The new Usain Bolt.

Because Tebogo still has left.

In the last Eugene World Cup, his debut with the majors, he amazed in the series (9.94 seconds, his first sub-20 record), but in the semifinals he disappointed and was far from the spotlight, from the American triplet of

in the final.

And at the U-20 World Cup in Cali early this Friday morning, he failed in his favorite test, the 200 meters, in which the Israeli

despite another good record.

Jamaican gestures

"I want people to see me and remember Bolt. He was my idol, the mirror in which I looked at myself," Tebogo said during the championship, in which he himself sought comparison with the Jamaican.

In addition to running fast, very fast, he copied all his gestures.

He is the one to highlight his country on his shirt by making a frame with his fingers.

That of entering the finish line moving up and down the index finger of the right hand.

And even that of looking smugly at the rivals just at the end of the test.

Bolt's influence was clear, not so Tebogo will be able to earn the same as him, fly as much as him.

And it doesn't really matter.

Tebogo alone has a lot of history behind and in front of it.

Coming to athletics after a frustrated career in football -that's where he does look like Bolt-, he trained in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, under

, the former coach of

, Olympic runner-up in the 800m in the 2012 London Games -today sanctioned for doping-, and unlike this one, he decided on speed.

Already with another coach from the country,

, he made himself known last year by winning the 100 meters of the previous U-20 World Cup and promoting a very interesting movement: the 'boom' of African sprinters.

With the South African

(9.84) and the Kenyan

(9.77) as references, Tebogo is called to enter the books, although surely it will be without reaching the comparison with the best of all time.

Signed by Nike and by the University of Oregon, where he will train next year, his path is his alone.

The new Usain Bolt.

The new Usain Bolt.

The new Usain Bolt.

Nobody should be considered the new Usain Bolt.

It is exaggerated.

It's overwhelming.

Is a lie.

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• Articles Javier Sanchez