PARIS, FRANCE. By the time he walked off the light purple tartan track of the Stade de France on Monday evening, Tarsis Orogot had already set his own piece of history at the Paris Olympics here in the French capital.
And it was not about his yellow Sponge Bob socks, no. It was about the magnitude of his performance. Orogot had just won his debut race at the Olympics.
He had come through lane 3 to win the men’s 200m Heat 2 in a time of 20.32 seconds at the Paris 2024 Games. “I am happy and I did what I had to do to win the Heat,” he said.
“Coach (Blaine Wiley) told me to win the Heat and let’s go for a semifinal.” The US-based sprinter Orogot had become the first Ugandan ever to qualify for the semifinal Heats of this race in Olympic history.
In the past eight men, have run the 200m race at the Olympics with Francis Ogola being the last competitor at the Barcelona 1992 Games in Spain. “And now I look forward and see how to draw in the semifinal and have to do the same thing all over again and try to win my semifinal,” Orogot went on.
Orogot touches the line. PHOTOS/REUTERS
Orogot has unraveled history over this distance for Uganda and before Paris; he posted a new national record time of 19.75 seconds making him the fifth fastest man in the world this year.
The University of Alabama student will return to action on Wednesday in the men’s 200m semifinal Heat 1 with a target of making the top two automatic qualifying places to reach Thursday night’s final.
And the goal is pretty clear: “Make the final. I just have to give my best and we’ll see what happens,” he said. This is the third year in a row that Orogot has made a semifinal of the 200m at a major championship.
He however missed reaching the final during both the Oregon 2022 and Budapest 2023 editions of the World Athletics Championships in the USA and Hungary respectively.
He will be in a semifinal Heat that has American Kenny Bednarek, reigning Olympic champion Canadian Andre de Grasse, Dominica Republic’s Alexander Ogando and home boy Ryan Zeze.
During the semifinal Heat at the Hayward Field in Eugene – Oregon two years ago, Orogot came fifth as eventual champion American Noah Lyles won. He finished ranked 13th overall.
In Budapest, Orogot admitted to running so many collegiate races after he came third in semifinal Heat 2 won by Lyles with Ogando in second. He was ranked 13th best at the end of the event.
But things are a little different in Paris. “Right now it’s about learning from the past experiences and being competitive in every round,” said Orogot. “I have matured and gotten better as an athlete.
He however is doing it alone physically after his coach Wiley from Alabama did not make it to Paris. Wiley posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that he had only kept in touch with Orogot on Monday in live video via Apple communication portal FaceTime.
