The staggering 200m upset, the wheelchair and the secret illness
By Michael Gleeson
On Sunday night, Noah Lyles floated from the Stade de France, the newly crowned fastest man in the world. On Thursday night, he left in a wheelchair.
Lyles tested positive for COVID on Tuesday and still raced the 200m Olympic final on Thursday night. He won bronze, but that he finished the race at all was extraordinary.
The toll stopped him in his tracks as he crossed the line and slumped to the ground. This was not the shrug of disappointment at watching Botswana’s 21-year-old star Letsile Tebogo win gold ahead of his teammate Kenny Bednarek in silver and having to settle for bronze. It was exhaustion that halted him. He had nothing left.
“I do have COVID. I tested positive around 5am on Tuesday morning. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling real chills, aching, sore throat, and those were a lot of the symptoms I’ve had right before getting COVID,” said Lyles, who has spoken previously of being an asthmatic and managing elite sport.
“We tested it, came back positive, and we quickly quarantined in a hotel nearby the [Olympic] Village. Tried to get me on as much medication as we legally could to make sure my body could keep the momentum going. I still wanted to run, it was still possible, we just stayed away from everybody.
Lyles is taken off the track in a wheelchair after receiving medical attention.Credit: AP
“I knew that if I wanted to come out here and win, I had to give everything I have from the get-go. I didn’t have any time to save energy. That was the strategy.
“I’ve had better days, but I’m walking around again. I was quite light-headed after that race. Shortness of breath, chest pain, but after a while, I could catch my breath and get my wits about me. I’m a lot better now.”
His post-race behaviour was in stark contrast to his pre-race behaviour, which gave no indication of anything other than the high-energy, excitable showman who embraces attention and believes it reflects glory on his sport.
He bounded about the track, flapping his arms and whooping at the crowd. He kicked his starter’s block, causing the number to fall and drawing a yellow card for his intemperate exuberance. Naughty Noah.
Letsile Tebogo celebrates his win in the men’s 200m.Credit: Eddie Jim
“I already had a bunch of energy. This is by far the best day I’ve felt out of the last three days. Still not 100%, but closer to 90 to 95%. That only works for one shot. I got to settle down for a while. It’s one and done, there’s no holding back,” Lyles said of his pre-race antics that were all the more surprising knowing his illness.
Unusually, once the race started, Lyles came fast out of the blocks. But on the bend, when he normally kicks up a gear, this time, he had nowhere to go. Tebogo and Bednarek powered from him, and Lyles was powerless to catch them. Tebogo won gold in 19.46s from Bednarek in 19.62s and Lyles bronze in 19.70s.
“It definitely affected my performance. I’ve had to take a lot of breaks … I was coughing through the night. I’m more proud of myself than anything, coming out here to get a bronze with COVID,” Lyles said of the decision to race, which was his alone after consultation with the USA track team’s doctors.
“We were trying to keep this close to the chest. The people who knew were the medical staff, coach, my mum.
“We didn’t want everybody going into a panic, we wanted them to be able to compete. We wanted to make this as free as possible. I’m competitive. Why would you give them an edge over you?”
It is unknown if the Netflix producers and camera crews filming for a second series of the popular Sprint were also inside the tent.
As of Thursday night, Lyles had not yet decided whether to race the 4x100m relay, but it sounded unlikely.
Noah Lyles lies on the track after finishing third in the men’s 200m in Paris.Credit: AP
For Tebogo, you can only beat who is out there, and Lyles’ illness, which will consume the post-race news, should not overshadow his actual race. It was the fifth-quickest time ever in an Olympics for the distance.
Tebogo won silver at the world championships in Budapest last year and finished sixth behind Lyles in the 100m on Sunday. Earlier this year, his mother died, and he took a month away from training. On Thursday night, he wore shoes with her date of birth on them.
“It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field,” he said. “Me, to take her, it gives me a lot of motivation. She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy. I didn’t want to put the date of her death because I’ll get emotional.
”I took about three weeks to a month without doing anything. It wasn’t really clicking for me that she’s really gone. For me, I have to find the reason why I started my athletics journey and why I should continue going on.
“But I’m really grateful for the team around me. They really pushed me through thick and thin. We had our ups and downs, but we just made sure that we pulled through and made it to the Olympics.”
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