Rai Benjamin is in awe of Letsile Tebogo's exceptional talent as he admitted that the 4x400m relay was his hardest race.
The men’s 4x400m relay final the Paris Olympic Games must have been one of the most thrilling races in history.
American Rai Benjamin and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo went head-to-head in the anchor leg but it was the former who went home with the top prize, after a hard fight of course.
The Olympic 400m hurdles champion disclosed that it was one of the toughest races he ran and admitted that he has never hard to work so hard for a win.
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Despite not taking the baton among the first people, Letsile Tebogo was determined to win a medal for his country and he chased Rai Benjamin all the way to the finish line. Rai Benjamin attested to that in an interview with Letsrun.com.
Throughout the race, Rai Benjamin was aware that Tebogo meant business and he had to dig deep for the win. The former world Under-20 double champion (100m and 200m) was just fresh from winning the 200m and was still in the spirit of running.
“I’ll just say, I don’t think a lot of people could run that anchor leg like I did. So I’ll just leave it at that. It was tough man. I’m telling you right now. It was like the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my track career,” the two-time world champion said.
“I knew it was gonna play out that way and I was like, man this kid’s not playing around. He means business. But yeah, thank you guys.”
Despite the snub from World Athletics, Rai Benjamin believes that Tebogo certainly deserved the award owing to his explosive times this season.
The world 100m silver medallist endured a tough start to the season following the loss of his mother but he still managed to show up.
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Rai Benjamin noted that he does not prioritise such awards and whoever takes the prize home but for this one, he had to give it to Tebogo.
“For me, it’s like, whatever. I don’t really cry about that type of stuff. It’s all good. If I win, I win. If I don’t, it’s all good,” he said.
“The other guys are more than deserving and Letsile Tebogo had a great, great, great year, ran a phenomenal leg on the 4×4 and now did like something that’s never been done for his country.
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“So, yeah, it could have gone either way. I don’t really like hang my head up about that type of stuff.”