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"There were a lot of people in the village who had COVID"- Noah Lyles opens up on cases at Paris Olympics & running the 200m despite testing positive
Noah Lyles had a roller coaster of a campaign at the Paris Olympics. Against all odds, the American sprinter bettered his own timing to beat the top favorite Kishane Thompson from Jamaica. Lyles also ended the gold drought for USA in men's 100m at the Olympics for the past two decades.
However, when it came to completing the elusive 'golden double', Lyles had to fight on multiple fronts. Not only did he face tough competition, he was also battling the COVID-19 virus at the same time. Yet, the American sprinter managed to land himself on the podium, maintaining the same place as he did at the Tokyo Olympics with a bronze medal in 200m.
In a recent podcast, Lyles opened up on the entire experience. While chatting with the YouTube channel Nightcap, Noah Lyles mentioned that he had noticed the signs of COVID-19 way before the finals itself.
When asked if the officials knew about it, Lyles replied [via Nightcap]:
"Yeah, there was a conversation...While I was getting tested, I was talking with the Team USA doctors, and they were telling me what the rules are. They changed from Tokyo [Tokyo Olympics 2020], they said that anybody who has COVID is allowed to compete, it's upto the governing body of the sport [i.e. IAAF in this case], the sport or the country to decide how to handle the COVID situation."
He added:
"So, I'm just letting you know, there were a lot of people in the village who had COVID..."
British swimmer Adam Peaty, who had jointly won the silver medal for the men's 100m breaststroke, was found afflicted with the COVID-19 virus a day after the final. Though he recovered quickly, the British swimmer was forced to miss the finals for the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
Noah Lyles' performances at the Paris Olympics
![Noah Lyles of USA celebrates after winning the 100m finals at Paris Olympics 2024 [Image Sources: Getty]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/08/8537c-17239594602469-1920.jpg)
Noah Lyles had entered the Paris Olympics as the defending world champion in men's 100m. He had won a bronze medal in the men's 200m at the Tokyo Olympics.
Noah Lyles was not the favorite to even win an Olympic medal in the men's 100m, let alone the gold medal. When Lyles came second in the heats, many people mocked him, especially the NBA fans, who were mad at him for his previous comments over the status of NBA winners.
However, the American sprinter let his performance do the talking. He clocked 9.83 seconds in the semifinals to qualify for the finals. Despite starting a bit slower than Kishane Thompson, Noah Lyles gave it his all to secure a close win via photo finish, where Lyles finished 0.005 seconds ahead of the Jamaican sprinter.
With that, Lyles had not only won another Olympic gold medal for USA, but also ended a two-decade-old drought for American sprinters in this discipline. Justin Gatlin had last won the Olympic gold in this discipline at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
With that, Noah Lyles was all set to repeat his performance in the 200m, and he topped his heats with ease to qualify for the semifinals. However, he was struck with COVID-19 only a day before the semifinals, i.e. August 7. Yet, Lyles didn't give up and made it to the finals, with a timing of 20.08 seconds.
Despite struggling with COVID-19, Noah Lyles decided to go ahead with the final race. Against all odds, he clocked a time of 19.7 seconds to finish third overall, getting a second successive bronze medal in the men's 200m.
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