Is there a peacemaking process going on in the corner? Or is it simply about complimenting someone for their noble deed? Fans of track and field sports may continue to scratch their heads until they discover the actual cause. As it seems, things are changing between Noah Lyles and his enemy, Letsile Tebogo. For a moment, the two sprinters have paused to exchange heated words. Rather, straight back to February 2025. Things might give off a friendly vibe between the two Olympians. Hard to believe? Here comes the piece of evidence. 

On February 19, Noah Lyles took to X to submit a remark in the comment box of a post. Remember, the original post was for Tebogo, authored by World Athletics. Through the post, the highest body of track and field sports wanted to recognize Tebogo’s humanitarian act carried out in the recent flooding in Botswana. Meanwhile, Noah Lyles dropped his 6-word message for Tebogo in the comment box. 

His words read, “A true man of the people [emoji].” The lines almost stood similar to the title of Chinua Achebe’s satirical novel. But here the fans might not spot any satire. Instead, it was regarding the satisfaction Noah found watching his colleague’s effort in a crisis moment. But what actually happened? What did Tebogo do? 

A piece of news published by Reuters on February 18 claimed that Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, experienced flooding because of severe rain in the region. The situation went down further because of waterlogging and disrupted traffic. The emergency service in the capital also bore the brunt of this critical situation. However, Letsile Tebogo came forward as a helping hand. 

The 21-year-old entered the scene with his truck to rescue the stranded drivers and their vehicles. His maneuvered truck stood robust enough to take multiple vehicles while rescuing the unfortunate drivers. The clip of him doing the act came on X as Travis Miller, the NBC Sports Director of Social Media, shared it. Since then, Letsile’s act has amassed a huge number in the list of engagements on X. Meanwhile, that list includes names like the renowned sports journalist Karen Madden and an enormous chunk of Botswana citizens. 

Noah Lyles’ post, however, could be the first effort to stop the rivalry between the two athletes. Last year, the duo threw several fireballs at each other. A few of them surely earned a lot of criticism. Well, here are a few to follow.

Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo have seen the worst part of it 

One such fireball came from Letsile Tebogo right after his victory in the men’s 200m final in the Paris Olympics. In the race, the Botswana athlete overpowered the hot favorite Noah to claim his maiden Olympic individual gold medal. But the fire of this battle continued to be prolonged to the post-match press conference. There, in front of the full house, Tebogo said, “I think, for me, I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah (Lyles). So, I believe Noah is the face of athletics.” Noah’s reaction after the dig was pulled at him? It didn’t come promptly. But later, he was ready to ignore the entire men’s 200m event from his book of favorites. 

“Nobody cares about the 200,” Noah Lyles said in his interaction with LetsRun.com, clearly minimizing his failure and Letsile’s achievement in the Olympics. However, later, Letsile had his turn to criticize everything. His anger found another edge after watching the American athletes, especially Noah Lyles, take bigger screen time in Sprint season 2.

In November last year, the track and field sports world saw Tebogo bursting out on that topic. In his conversation with Sean McAllister, he said, “There’s nothing really that makes us special when compared to the United States. But all I can say is that Botswana will take care of a gem perfectly, more than the US can, because I believe the US has got too many athletes.” The gem of Botswana has taken good care of his countrymen, and the American athlete has dropped a shout-out on that.

So, is this finally the end of their words of battle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!