"Letsile Tebogo is like a compact version of Usain Bolt"- Justin Gatlin on why the 200m Olympic champion is one to watch

Usain Bolt remains a legendary figure in the history of track and field. Justin Gatlin, who was one of his biggest competitors, recently shared his take on what the future of the sport looks like and which athletes he thinks are the rising track figures.

During an episode of the “Run Your Race” podcast with Theo Pinson and AJ Richardson, Gatlin touched upon the names he considers will be vital towards the sport's future. The 12-time World Championship medalist mentioned Quincy Wilson, the young rising track star as one of the names.

Gatlin also used the example of Letsile Tebogo, as he believes that the Paris Olympics 200m gold medalist is similar to Bolt.

“I'll say there's a guy from Botswana named Letsile Tebogo, cool guy. I would say, he's like a compact version of Usain Bolt. He has the same running style as Usain, he's like, his swag is like cool, emoji with sunglasses kind of dude, just cool quiet. But his running, he can run full 400, 300, 200, 100 and I mean like at elite levels. He could do it all. So watch out for him,” Justin Gatlin shared. [from 1:48:48]

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Justin Gatlin shared his take on the Jamaican legend Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin at the 16th IAAF World Athletics Championships London 2017 - Source: Getty

Justin Gatlin, who shared the track with some of the top names in the sport, also ventured to reveal what his thoughts were on the eight-time Olympic gold medalist. In one of the segments of the podcast “Run Your Race”, Gatlin talked about Usain Bolt.

“When I first encountered Bolt, he still was young, like he was like a junior so he's still in high school and everything. I'm like Usain Bolt, I mean that's a cool name and then when he like arrived, I was like let me do some research on this man. You must be like Usain Russell or something like that. You changed your last name to Bolt because it's way too fitting. It worked; his calling was that bro. He was fast. He's a natural rockstar. He’s naturally like that,” Gaitlin shared. [onwards 0:26]

Justin Gatlin, with his share of records and five Olympic medals, achieved an incredible feat when he defeated Bolt twice. His first win over Bolt came in the 100m event at Rome Diamond League in 2013.

The second one came at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, when Gatlin was able to jump ahead of Bolt and secure first place. Gatlin clocked a time of 9.92 seconds, securing the gold medal.