"Some coaches' opinion is held at higher regard than other coaches'" - Noah Lyles slams upsetting disqualification in 4x100m relay at Paris Olympics

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Aug 18, 2024 07:30 GMT

Noah Lyles spoke about the USA's disqualification in the men's 4x100m relay finals at the Paris Olympics. The American expressed that the mishap could have been avoided with a different preparation. He said that his stepping down from the relay team was followed by changes in positioning and baton-exchanges. Lyles added that coaches' opinions in such matters were treated unequally. The 27-year-old also suggested a different running order for the final in Paris

The USA men's 4x100m relay team was the fastest qualifier for the finals, clocking 37.47s. The members of the team were Kenneth Bednarek, Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, and Kyree King. They were disqualified in the finals after the baton exchange between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek had crossed the exchange zone.

Lyles gave his take on the disqualification in the latest episode of the 'NightCap' with Shannon Sharpe and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson. The American athlete shed light on athletes sponsored by Nike and Adidas having different coaches who follow different coaching styles:

"Therein lies the problem, how many people are in the coach's ear that is the thing that gets [the] USA in trouble because you got to know that some of these athletes are Nike athletes with Nike coaches, I'm an Adidas athlete with an Adidas coach, and some coaches' opinions are held at a higher regard than other coaches' opinions. And when one person is taken down, i.e., me, it creates a shift, everybody wants to go in different places and they're little bit scared and little bit nervous and they want to do it a little different," he said. (36:35)

Lyles also shared his opinion on what he felt went wrong in the baton exchange:

" In that vacuum of me leaving, it provided everybody a chance to say, 'okay, well, we can now switch it up a different way,' and unfortunately because of that, we weren't prepared...Those were handoffs that were not practiced when we practiced, and seeing what happened was heartbreaking. It was truly heartbreaking."

Lyles added his take on what could have been done differently for the USA to be successful in the 4x100m relay:

"In my head, there were two great options that we had. One was to use the team from the prelims that would have got the job done and the other was to put Kenny on the anchor leg...Unfortunately, that's not the route that we went and it just didn't get done and is it's heartbreaking to see." [37:42]

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Why didn't Noah Lyles run the 4x100m relay?

Noah Lyles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games [Source: Getty]

Noah Lyles was scheduled to run three events at the Paris Olympics 2024: the 100m, the 200m, and the 4x100m relay. However, after testing positive for COVID-19 and winning the bronze medal in the 200m, Lyles took to Instagram to announce that he would be concluding his Olympic campaign in the French capital.

The announcement came as a disappointment to fans as Lyles being spotted in Team USA's relay training camp in Paris had fuelled great anticipation among fans for the final of the men's 4x100m relay.

The American athlete concluded his Olympic campaign with two medals, pushing his dream to win three Olympic golds to the next edition of the quadrennial Games in Los Angeles.