Joseph Fahnbulleh Advances Liberia to Paris2024 Men’s 200m Final

Featured image by Madeah Addy (Joseph Fahnbulleh in Paris2024 men’s 200m semifinal.)

Joseph Fahnbulleh advances to the Paris2024 men’s 200m finals after placing second in his heat and running 20.12. This is the 22-year-old sprinter’s second consecutive Olympic Game and second time advancing to an Olympic final round. In a calm and collected post-race interview, Fahnbulleh shared his thoughts about making the Olympic final for a second time in a row.

Fahnbulleh advances

“I feel like George Weah,” Fahnbulleh told Go Team Liberia. “I feel good, I feel great, I feel blessed. Most importantly I feel blessed. I’ve been praying a lot.”

Fahnbulleh expressed that it’s taken a different mentality to reach each Olympic final. This time around, he said he’s centered himself on remaining faithful, prayerful, and focused on serving others.

“I’m not doing this for myself,” Fahnbulleh said. “I’m doing this for everybody else who came before me.”

It takes a village to get to the finals

During round one, Fahnbulleh said his mom reminded him of the popular Bible scripture Psalm 23, which states “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Fahnbulleh used these words to run a steady and successful race, on Monday. However, in the semifinal, Fahnbulleh said his personal coach gave him some tougher words to motivate him to reach the next round.

“The words that I got today were not holy,” Fahnbulleh joked. “It came from my coach, ‘You have to make it. You don’t come this far to not make it. Go there, be a man,’ and you can probably tell what comes after that.”

Fahnbulleh also emphasized his continuous attempt to serve the village that raised him. From his mom to his coach to Liberia, and all of the individuals who’ve collectively and individually supported him on his journey. These races are for them.

What’s next

Tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. local time, Fahnbulleh will run in the Paris2024 men’s 200m final. He placed fifth at the Tokyo Games, and will once again compete for Liberia’s first medal.

Unlike his first Olympic final, where he was the only African runner, this final has four African sprinters competing. “We’re putting the whole world on notice,” Fahnbulleh said. “Africa being in the finals with three different countries and four different people from Africa in the final, that’s half the field, you know.”

Letsile Tebogo from Botswana; Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba from Zimbabwe; Alexander Ogando from Dominican Republic; and Noah Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, and Kenneth Bednarek from USA will all join Fahnbulleh in the finals for a shot at the men’s 200m Olympic gold.

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