Why was Noah Lyles given the yellow card in the 200m final at the Paris Olympics? All about the rule that was violated

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Aug 10, 2024 06:35 GMT

Noah Lyles was given a yellow card while competing in the finals of the men's 200m at the Paris Olympics. The American athlete broke a technical rule before getting on the blocks to start the race.

Lyles marched on to the men's 200m after a victory in the 100m, marking his first-ever Olympic gold medal. Alongside him, the men's 200m final line-up was stacked with great runners such as Letsile Tebogo, Kenny Bednarek, and Erriyon Knighton among others, making it one of the most anticipated events of the night.

Lyles entered the stadium after his name was announced, projecting great confidence and went on to hype the crowd as he took to the starting blocks. While hyping the crowd, he smacked the box that had the speaker in his lane, due to which the number on the box fell off. Moments, after the race, Lyles was handed over a yellow card for a violation of Technical Rule 7.1, which falls under "improper conduct."

Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won his first Olympic gold medal in the men's 200m after clocking 19.46s. Kenny Bednarek finished second with a time of 19.62s, while Noah Lyles took home the bronze medal after clocking 19.70s.

The American athlete was seen struggling right after the race and was attended by the medical team on the track. It was later revealed that Lyles tested positive for COVID-19 two days ago but decided to go compete in the finals.

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Noah Lyles on competing in the men's 200m finals

Lyles during the 200m at the Olympic Games-Paris 2024 - Source: Getty

Noah Lyles spoke about competing in the 200m finals at the Paris Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19. The American athlete revealed that he felt pain in his chest after the race.

"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,"he said (as quoted by ESPN)

"I was quite lightheaded after that race, and the shortness of breath and chest pain was definitely active. But after a while underneath, I was able to catch my breath and get my wits about me. I'm doing a lot better now," he added.

Hours later, Lyles took to Instagram to inform his fans that he would be concluding his campaign at the Paris Olympics.