An emotional Letsile Tebogo dedicated his gold medal in the men's 200m at the Paris Olympics to his late mother after stunning his rivals at the Stade de France.

Noah Lyles, who won 100m gold on Sunday, entered Thursday's final as the clear favourite but could only manage a bronze medal, with US Track and Field subsequently revealing he was suffering from COVID-19.

Fellow American Kenny Bednarek took silver, with Tebogo's time of 19.46 seconds seeing him become Botswana's first Olympic gold medallist in any sport.

They previously won bronze in the men's 4 x 400 relay at the Tokyo Games three years ago, while Nijel Amos took silver in the men's 800m at London 2012.

Tebogo's triumph came just three months after his mother Seratiwa passed away following a brief illness.

After the race, Tebogo held up his spikes to the cameras to display a message detailing his mother's date of birth, before dedicating his victory to her.

"It's basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field," Tebogo told reporters.

"To take her with me, it gives me a lot of motivation. She's watching up there, and she's really, really happy."