"Team USA may have won gold but Noah Lyles is still not wrong" - Fans react as men's basketball team wins gold medal at Paris Olympics 

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Aug 11, 2024 06:20 GMT

Noah Lyles' comments on the NBA were discussed once again on social media after Team USA's men's basketball team won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Team USA defeated France with a score of 98-87 to win their fifth consecutive gold medal at the quadrennial Games.

Noah Lyles spoke about the NBA in a press conference at the World Athletics Championships 2023 and said:

"You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have 'world champion' on their head," he said. "World champion of what? The United States? Don't get me wrong, I love the U.S. at times, but that ain't the world...We are the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA."

This press conference brought about a lot of criticism and started a debate among fans that came up recurrently. After the men's basketball team won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Lyles' comments were brought up once again highlighting the fact that he won the bronze medal in the 200m.

"Team USA may have won gold but Lyles is still not wrong on what he said," wrote a fan.

"What am I missing does USA actually earning their title as the world champs invalidate the fact that nba champs aren’t world champs or are you just hunting interactions," another fan chimed in.

"That olympics prove that Nba champs are definetely not world champs!!! With help from refs beating Serbia by 4 and barely take gold in the final! World champion of what is actually valid!!!," wrote another fan.

Here are some more fan reactions:

"Team USA basketball lost zero matches while Lyles could only win one event. Seems to me be they outperformed him by large margins," wrote a fan.

"@LylesNoahwas 100% correct that title of "World Champions" need to be changed for all US sports (NBA,NFL,MLB. etc. etc...)," another fan tweeted.

"Is it Team USA who are now World Champions or the Boston Celtics? Y’all still rattled bc Noah was correct 😂," another fan chimed in.

Noah Lyles at the Paris Olympics

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

Noah Lyles marched into the Paris Olympics as one of the top prospects for the gold medal in the sprint events. The American athlete was slated to compete in the men's 100, 200, and 4x100m relay.

Lyles won the gold medal in the men's 100m after a thrilling race that ended in a photo finish. He clocked 9.784s to clinch his first-ever Olympic gold medal. He then went on to compete in the 200m final where he finished third with a time of 19.70s. After the race, the American athlete seemed to have discomfort and was escorted to the medical room by officials in a wheelchair.

The USATF later revealed in a statement that Lyles had tested positive for COVID-19 but decided to compete in the race. After the 200m, Noah Lyles took to Instagram to inform his fans that he would be ending his Paris Olympics campaign and would not participate in the 4x100m relay.