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Akeeile Harris

American Bias? Netflix's Sprint Series Faces Backlash from Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo

With the premiere of season two of Netflix's Sprint series, 200m Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo addresses the American-centric narrative


Tebogo calls out "Sprint" for American-Centric focus (Photo: AFP)


The second season of Netflix's documentary series "Sprint" premiered on November 13, quickly sparking headlines, though not necessarily for the content itself. Instead, it was the casting that drew criticism from senior athletes.


Among those who shared their frustrations was 21-year-old Olympic 200-meter champion Letsile Tebogo, who voiced disappointment over what he perceived as an American narrative in the series. Despite the docu-series' intention to showcase top sprinters worldwide on their journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tebogo’s reaction highlighted concerns that the focus seemed disproportionately centered on American athletes.



Tebogo shared his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter), writing, "This is an American show." In response to a user's tweet stating, "Netflix owes an apology to Letsile Tebogo, Marie-Josée Ta Lou, and Mackenzie Long," Tebogo retweeted and added, "It owes an apology to all African athletes."


Tebogo, who made history as Botswana’s first Olympic gold medalist and added a silver in the 4x400 relay, doesn’t appear in the series until 22 minutes into the final episode. Although the series promised to feature Tebogo alongside athletes like Noah Lyles, Gabby Thomas, Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Julien Alfred, and Jamaican rising stars Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville, as well as Shericka Jackson, Tebogo feels that the focus is heavily skewed toward the four American athletes, particularly Lyles.



On social media, track and field fans urged the producers to adopt a more international perspective in future seasons, pointing out that the American bias from Season 1 appeared to go unaddressed.

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