Competing in his first Olympics, Mosito Lehata was notable for carrying the flag of Lesotho in the closing ceremony. He qualified for the Games because his fastest time, 20:63 seconds set in the 2012 African Championships in Athletics, met the "B" standard qualifying time for the men's 200 metres. The International Association of Athletics Federations applied a rule where any competitor observed jumping the start would be disqualified. A spokesperson for the Lesotho Amateur Athletics Association noted that Lehata had previously jump started races in his career but did not expect him to violate the rule at the Olympics because of the athlete's slow reaction time. Lehata competed in the fourth heat of the men's 200 metres on 7 August, finishing seventh (and last) of all competitors, with a time of 20.74 seconds. Overall he finished 33rd out of 53 runners, and was unable to progress to the semi-finals because his time was 0.24 seconds behind the slowest qualifier.