What to Know
- The "World's Fastest Man," as Noah Lyles has become known at the Paris Olympics, was diagnosed with COVID a couple of days ago, his mother told NBC Olympics Thursday -- the same day he fell short of earning the gold for the United States in the 100m and 200m sprints.
- Lyles came in third in the men's 200m final with a time of 19.70 seconds, meaning he was among the best, even while sick. Botswana's Letsile Tebogo won the gold with a time of 19.46 seconds and the USA's Kenneth Bednarek won the silver finishing with a time of 19.62 seconds.
Noah Lyles, crowned the "World's Fastest Man" earlier this week at the Paris Olympics, was diagnosed with COVID a couple of days ago, his mother told NBC Olympics Thursday -- the same day he fell short of earning the gold for the United States in the 100m and 200m sprints.
Lyles came in third in the men's 200m final with a time of 19.70 seconds, meaning he was among the best, even while sick. Botswana's Letsile Tebogo won the gold with a time of 19.46 seconds and the USA's Kenneth Bednarek won the silver finishing with a time of 19.62 seconds.
The 200m is Lyles' premiere, preferred event and he's ranked number one in the world for it. Lyles needed medical attention after the race, but it wasn't clear what the issue was or if it was related to his COVID diagnosis.
NBC Olympics' commentator Lewis Johnson described to viewers what he saw as Lyles was taken off in a wheelchair by medical personnel.
"As we saw Noah Lyles being taken off there in a wheelchair, I ran down underneath the stadium to try to find where he was. I ran into his mom, Keisha Caine Bishop, who was distraught trying to find him as well. We found Noah Lyles in medical there being tended to," Johnson said.
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Johnson went on to say that Lyles' mother "did confirm Noah had been diagnosed with COVID two days ago. That's right, diagnosed with COVID two days ago. But he decided, he was going to run anyway. And obviously, what he has there, may have affected how he performed. He is now, again, with medical people and again, his mom is also distraught. But that's the issue, Noah has COVID."
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Lyles told Johnson he never thought of not racing Thursday after he received his diagnoses.
"Yeah, I woke up early about 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning and I just was feeling really horrible," Lyles said. I knew it was more than just being sore from the 100. You know, woke up the doctors and we tested and unfortunately, it came up that I was positive for COVID. My first thought was not to panic... And we just took it day by day, trying to hydrate as much, quarantined off. And I'd definitely say it's taken it's toll for sure, but i've never been more proud of myself."
It's the second straight Olympics the virus has played a major role in Lyles' trip to the Games. He also won the bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, and he has said the empty stands and a year delay before the Games led to depression that he said hampered his performance and inspired his road to Paris.
It was a star-studded crowd at the stadium for the 200m and included Simone Biles, Mick Jagger, Snoop Dogg, Mikaela Shiffrin and Leon Marchand.
Lyles was scheduled to compete in the men' 4x100m relay final on Friday. However, he told Johnson he is not sure at the moment whether he will take part.
"At the moment, I don't know," he said "I'm feeling more on the side of letting Team USA do their thing. They've proven, with great certainty, that they can handle it without me. And if that's the case, coming off today, then I'm perfectly fine saying, 'Hey, you guys go do your thing, you guys have more than enough speed to be able to handle it and get the gold medal.'"
