"Thoughts of twitter do not reflect thoughts of the world"- Noah Lyles reflects on receiving hate on social media after winning gold at Paris Olympics

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Sep 20, 2024 04:31 GMT

Noah Lyles spoke about receiving hate on social media after his pursuits at the Paris Olympics. The American athlete has always been in the discussion among fans on social media ever since he spoke about the winners of the NBA finals calling themselves 'World Champions'.

Noah Lyles got into an internet banter with Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill after the Paris Olympics as the latter claimed to defeat the Olympic gold medalist in a race. Since then, the two athletes have been going back and forth, raising anticipation among fans to witness a one-on-one race between the two.

Lyles recently appeared on ESPN's famous show 'Sportcenter' and spoke about the challenge with Tyreek Hill.

"In terms of, you know, running a race, you got to be serious. Everybody wants to jump up to the top right. Everybody wants to jump into the everybody wants to race the fastest man. I didn't grab this title because it's easy or because I went the easy route," he said.

After the Interview, Lyles received a lot of hate from fans on social media for terming himself to be the 'fastest man'. Fans argued that Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world and holds the world record in the 100m and the 200m. He took to X and expressed his thoughts on receiving hate comments on social media.

"It’s ok, the thoughts of twitter do not reflect the thoughts of the world. In person I have been blessed to have people come up to me and tell me how much I have inspired them and others," he wrote.

Furthermore, he wished to continue to inspire more people as he embarked on his pursuit to achieve greatness in the sport.

Noah Lyles receives support from Gilbert Arenas

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

Noah Lyles received support from NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas who expressed that the hatred the 100 Olympic champion received after winning the bronze medal in the 200m was unnecessary. Furthermore, he urged people to extend their support to the countrymen instead of indulging in spreading hate.

Arena spoke about the incident in the Gil’s Arena podcast and said:

“I don't think he should have been hated, I was cheering for him. I was like oh he's an American player, I want all Americans to win all the motherf***ing medals. He won bronze, let's keep it moving, collect them up. But they (fans) see someone hated, and I'm like ‘man, just the way people think about your name, you have got to do a rebrand.

He also urged Lyles to be more relatable to fans and have a great relationship with other American athletes.