"If we can’t take ourselves serious who will then"- Irked Letsile Tebogo plans to boycott African Championships Finals due to disorganization

World 100m silver medallist Letsile Tebogo is disappointed in the planning of the ongoing African Championships in Doula, Cameroon. If the disorganization continues, Tebogo has opened up on plans not to continue with the finals of the continental showpiece where he was planning to represent his country in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m men's relay.

The world 200m bronze medallist shared his woes to the media following the 100m heats where he won his specific heat, clocking an impressive 10.29 to cross the finish line. Mamadou Fall Sarr of Senegal and Mojela Koneshe of Lesotho finished second and third clocking 10.34 to cross the finish line.

In a post-race interview, Tebogo quickly reacted to how the organizers kept the athletes waiting, a move considered unfair. The Botswana sprinter noted that his main focus was competing at the Olympics and might as well not show up for the race's final.

"We’ll see about the final because there is a lot of disorganized stuff so maybe I’m not going to run, maybe I’ll run because you do warm up and stay for one hour before being called. But, we know that time is money in athletics and you can’t do your warm-up, sit and be called, and get to run," Tebogo said.

"That’s why I didn’t even run because it’s looking at the Olympics, I’m not looking at the Africa Games. We should at least, I don’t know if we should call the association president to come up and help the athletes. That’s all. The semifinal I’m going to run and maybe the final I won’t run if the same thing happens because it’s my house,” he added.

The 21-year-old also expressed his frustration on his X (Twitter) handle, where he urged the organizers to think outside the box and plan well for the events.

"If we can’t take ourselves serious who will then," the 21-year-old said.

Meanwhile, Tebogo is only coming back into competition following his mother’s, Seratiwa Tebogo, untimely demise. The youngster lost his mother on Sunday morning, May 19 following a short illness.

Africa’s fastest woman Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith joins Tebogo in lamenting over disorganization at African Championships

Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha 2019 (Source: Getty)

Letsile Tebogo is not the only athlete to have expressed their disappointment over the organization of the African Championships, as Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith also did the same.

The Ivorian highlighted the disorderly travel arrangements for athletes, claiming that she was forced to hire a taxi for herself and her team to the stadium while other athletes had been escorted by security personnel to the venue.

"My team have to take a yango (taxi) to go to the stadium because the transportation sucks. I am hurt and disappointed. There is so much I wanted to say about the organization of the African championship," theIvorian said.

"Coming here I had so much expectation! So much!!! If we want things to change, we need to do better. We have now some high-level athletes. I want to cry because why? And on top of that, we on the taxi we see another African team with a police escort. Like why not do it for everybody?" she added.

The Ivorian's fastest 100m time so far in 2024 is 10.91 seconds, which she clocked at the Jamaica International Athletics Meet in Kingston during May. Her only 200m appearance this year came in Oslo at the Bislett Games, where she finished second after clocking 22.36 seconds.