"Breathing machines, hospital visits, late nights" - Noah Lyles opens up on struggles of growing up with asthma as an athlete

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Aug 18, 2024 03:42 GMT

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Noah Lyles recently spoke about the struggles of growing up with asthma as an athlete. After winning the 100m gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Lyles took to social media to reveal that he managed to achieve success after overcoming many health issues like asthma, allergies, dyslexia and depression.

"I have Asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and Depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become. Why Not You!," he wrote.

After concluding his Paris Olympics campaign with two medals, Noah Lyles recalled his struggles with asthma on the podcast "Everybody Wants To Be Us". The 27-year-old athlete spoke about how he dealt with asthma from a very young age as he pursued his ambitions to become a world-class runner.

"It's funny because when I first started running, this used to be a very big conversation, then it died out and it's been coming back up again. I think at like three years old is when they officially diagnosed you with asthma and it was truly just you know, breathing machines, hospital visits, late nights up with my mom, going through coughing fits and, you know, of course, if you get sick and you get asthma they merge together and you get a super sickness," Lyles said.

He added:

"So, there was a point in my life where I just thought that this is going to be forever, you know, I was just going to deal with this as an adult, as a teen. I'll grow old. Shoot, am I going to grow old?"

Noah Lyles on his decision to run with COVID-19 in the men's 200m finals

Noah Lyles - Athletics - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 13 - Source: Getty

After Noah Lyles won the bronze medal in the men's 200m at the Paris Olympics, the USATF issued a press release stating that the American had tested positive for COVID-19 but still decided to run the finals of the 200m.

Lyles spoke about his decision to run the finals in a post-race interview.

"I still wanted to run; they said it was still possible. So we just stayed away from everybody and just tried to take it round by round. And to be honest, I knew if I wanted to come out here and win, I had to give everything I had from the get-go. I didn't have any time to save energy. I was quite lightheaded after that race, and the shortness of breath and chest pain was definitely active," he said (as quoted by the Guardian).

After winning two medals at the Paris Olympics, Lyles is yet to announce his plans for the rest of the 2024 season.