Noah Lyles has described “the many nights he spent as a child in the hospital, receiving medication to calm his asthma episodes,” NBC reports. “I didn’t get to participate in sports ’till I got about seven or eight... there wasn’t a time that I can remember where asthma was not an issue,” he says in Netflix’s SPRINT, as NBC quotes him. School was hard too: “Lyles told TIME that he was diagnosed with the disorders as a child, around the time he was in middle school, and that these made school ‘difficult,’” NBC wrote of his dyslexia and ADHD (his own post says ADD, and “ADD is an outdated term for ADHD,” NBC notes). And “The Noah leading up to Tokyo was depressed,” he told NBC4 Washington.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, “Noah Lyles finished second in his opening heat of the Olympic 100 meters Saturday but still advanced,” the Associated Press reported; that was August 3, the day before the final. The final came the next evening, “in front of a mesmerised crowd at the Stade de France on Sunday (4),” World Athletics wrote, and “USA’s Noah Lyles brought his ‘main character energy’ to the Paris 2024 Games.” “He [Thompson] was out there in lane four and I was in lane seven,” Lyles told Athletics Weekly. Kishane Thompson was “Jamaica’s world leader,” in World Athletics’ words, “the fastest man in the world so far this year with the 9.77 PB he ran in June.”
“He had the slowest reaction to the gun and occupied last place, eighth, through the first 40 meters,” Team USA reported; FloTrack says “he was tied for the slowest at 0.178 with Letsile Tebogo.” “He moved into seventh at 50 meters, passing U.S. teammate Kenneth Bednarek, and jumped to third by 60m.” “In his trademark style he chased them down and then drew equal, crossing the line in a finish too close to call from the eye,” World Athletics wrote. As Lyles told Athletics Weekly, “something said I needed to lean.”
Then came the wait. “After the race I came up, we were waiting for the names to pop up,” Lyles told Team USA. “And I’ll be honest, I came over, I was like, ‘I think you got that one big dog.’” Both men were “clocked at 9.79,” Athletics Weekly wrote, but NBC Olympics reported “a lifetime-best 9.784 seconds” for Lyles: “Lyles crossed the finish line just five thousandths of a second ahead of Thompson, who posted a time of 9.789. The result wasn’t clear until nearly 30 seconds after the end of the race, as the competitors waited nervously for the details of their photo finish.” Then “he held his arms out wide and then ripped off his name bib to show it to the camera,” World Athletics wrote. His was “the first by an American in the 100m dash since the Olympic Games Athens 2004, when Justin Gatlin won it in 9.85 seconds,” Team USA said.
“Four days on from his 100m victory in Paris, Lyles wasn’t able to immediately celebrate his second medal as he was helped off the track in a wheelchair,” World Athletics reported on August 8. “He later explained that he had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday.” Letsile Tebogo won the 200 m “with an African record of 19.46”; “Bednarek got silver in 19.62 and Lyles bronze in 19.70.” Covid “definitely affected my performance,” Lyles said, NBC News reported. In a post on X that NBC quoted, he wrote: “I have Asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and Depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become. Why Not You!”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He was last after 40 meters, yet he won Olympic gold. Team USA: “He had the slowest reaction to the gun and occupied last place, eighth, through the first 40 meters.” World Athletics: “the six-time world gold medallist dipped to victory in a PB of 9.79” to “take the Olympic title.” 21
- His name is Noah Lyles. World Athletics: “USA’s Noah Lyles brought his ‘main character energy’ to the Paris 2024 Games.” 1
- As a boy, he spent many nights in the hospital with asthma. NBC: “He went on to describe the many nights he spent as a child in the hospital, receiving medication to calm his asthma episodes.” Lyles, in Netflix’s SPRINT, as NBC quotes him: “I didn’t get to participate in sports ’till I got about seven or eight... there wasn’t a time that I can remember where asthma was not an issue.” 11
- School was hard too, with dyslexia and ADHD. NBC: “Lyles told TIME that he was diagnosed with the disorders as a child, around the time he was in middle school, and that these made school ‘difficult.’” NBC: “ADD is an outdated term for ADHD” (his own post says “ADD”). 11
- Before the Tokyo Olympics, he said, he was depressed. NBC: “‘The Noah leading up to Tokyo was depressed,’ Lyles told NBC4 Washington in June.” 11
- In the Paris 100 meter final, he was in lane seven. Lyles, to Athletics Weekly: “He [Thompson] was out there in lane four and I was in lane seven.” World Athletics: “in front of a mesmerised crowd at the Stade de France on Sunday (4).” 41
- The year’s fastest man, Kishane Thompson, was in lane four. World Athletics: “Jamaica’s world leader Kishane Thompson”; “Thompson, the fastest man in the world so far this year with the 9.77 PB he ran in June.” Lyles, to Athletics Weekly: “He [Thompson] was out there in lane four.” 14
- Nobody was slower to react to the gun. Team USA: “He had the slowest reaction to the gun.” FloTrack: “he was tied for the slowest at 0.178 with Letsile Tebogo.” 27
- Even at halfway, he was only seventh. Team USA: “He moved into seventh at 50 meters, passing U.S. teammate Kenneth Bednarek, and jumped to third by 60m.” Sports Illustrated: “Lyles was in last place at the 40 meter mark, and just seventh by the time the race got to the halfway point.” 26
- Then he chased them down, and something told him to lean. World Athletics: “In his trademark style he chased them down and then drew equal, crossing the line in a finish too close to call from the eye.” Lyles, to Athletics Weekly: “something said I needed to lean.” To ABC News: “Something said I need to lean.” 145
- Afterward, he told Thompson, “I think you got that one, big dog.” Lyles, to Team USA: “After the race I came up, we were waiting for the names to pop up … And I’ll be honest, I came over, I was like, ‘I think you got that one big dog.’” Athletics Weekly has the same words; ABC News spells it “big dawg.” 245
- Both times read 9.79. World Athletics: “Noah Lyles (USA) 9.79 PB,” “Kishane Thompson (JAM) 9.79.” Athletics Weekly: “he and Thompson both being clocked at 9.79 (1.0).” 14
- The photo finish gave it to Lyles, by five thousandths of a second. World Athletics: “pipping Jamaica’s world leader Kishane Thompson by just five thousandths of a second.” NBC Olympics: “a lifetime-best 9.784 seconds. Lyles crossed the finish line just five thousandths of a second ahead of Thompson, who posted a time of 9.789. The result wasn’t clear until nearly 30 seconds after the end of the race, as the competitors waited nervously for the details of their photo finish.” 13
- Just four days later, with Covid, he still took bronze in the 200. World Athletics: “Four days on from his 100m victory in Paris, Lyles wasn’t able to immediately celebrate his second medal as he was helped off the track in a wheelchair. He later explained that he had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday”; “Lyles bronze in 19.70.” NBC News: “Two days after Noah Lyles said he had tested positive for Covid, the American sprinter finished third in the 200-meter final.” 910
- “What you have does not define what you can become,” he wrote. His post on X, as NBC quotes it: “I have Asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and Depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become. Why Not You!” 11
Sources
- Lyles wins Olympic 100m gold in photo finish in Paris (Jess Whittington, August 4, 2024) World Athletics
- The Fastest Man in the World: Noah Lyles Wins Men’s 100-Meter Gold in Paris (Madie Chandler, August 4, 2024) Team USA
- Paris Olympics: men’s 100m final report NBC Olympics
- Late surge carries Noah Lyles to Olympic 100m gold (Euan Crumley, August 4, 2024) Athletics Weekly
- Noah Lyles wins gold for U.S. in 100m by 0.005 of a second (Coley Harvey, August 4, 2024) ABC News
- Stunning Multi-Frame Overlay Captures Epic 100m Final Sports Illustrated
- Noah Lyles Wins The Olympic 100 Meter Championship In Paris FloTrack
- Noah Lyles closes strong to advance in 1st round of 100m at Olympics The Associated Press, on theScore
- Paris 2024 Olympic Games report: men’s 200m (August 8, 2024) World Athletics
- U.S. track star Noah Lyles takes bronze in 200 meters, says he tested positive for Covid (August 8, 2024) NBC News
- Noah Lyles health: Team USA sprinter wins with asthma, allergies, ADHD NBC Connecticut
Notes
Reaction: Team USA says he had “the slowest reaction to the gun”; FloTrack says “he was tied for the slowest at 0.178 with Letsile Tebogo.” The Short says “Nobody was slower to react to the gun,” which is true either way.
Position: last, eighth, through 40 meters and seventh at 50 meters (Team USA); last at 40 meters and “just seventh by the time the race got to the halfway point” (Sports Illustrated). World Athletics adds that “it was the first time that eight men have finished sub-10 in the same wind legal race.”
Lane: one outlet put Lyles in lane six; his own words to Athletics Weekly put him in lane seven and Thompson in lane four.
Times: both men’s official times are 9.79 (World Athletics); the photo finish split them at 9.784 and 9.789 (NBC Olympics). NBC Olympics also notes that Thompson’s foot “appeared to cross the finish line before any of Lyles’ feet, but that’s irrelevant,” because the torso decides; the Short doesn’t go into it.
“Big dog”: Team USA and Athletics Weekly print “big dog”; ABC News spells it “big dawg.”
ADHD: his post says “ADD”; NBC notes that “ADD is an outdated term for ADHD,” and the Short says ADHD.
Covid: World Athletics says he “had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday”; NBC News says the 200 m final came “Two days after Noah Lyles said he had tested positive for Covid.” The Short says only “with Covid.”
Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson are alive. Only race results, reporting by major outlets and Lyles’s own public words about his health (his post on X, and what he told TIME, NBC4 Washington and Netflix’s SPRINT, as NBC reported them) are used; nothing else about his health, his family or his private life. The other sprinters in the photos are named only in the captions.
Pictures: no free photo shows the Paris 100 m final, its photo finish or the 200 m final; every picture of those moments we found is agency, broadcast or Olympic-media work, so none is used. Noah Lyles is at the Stade de France in the men’s 100 m first round on August 3, 2024, the day before the final, in three photos by Aeltegop (close up, waving, and settling into his blocks), who also photographed Kishane Thompson twice in the same round; in a 100 m race at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on June 23, 2024, in red (two photos by jenaragon94); at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines on June 22, 2018 (jenaragon94); at the Gyulai Memorial in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, on August 18 and 19, 2020 (Bob Ramsak); with a US teammate after the 4x100 m relay final at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on July 23, 2016 (Pit1233); and with Adam Gemili and Andre De Grasse in the 200 m final at the World Championships in Doha on October 1, 2019 (filip bossuyt). The Stade de France and its giant screen are seen on the morning of August 4, 2024, the day of the final; the screen is not showing the result (Pronoia). The photo-finish picture is from Marlies Oelsner’s 100 m world record race in Dresden on July 1, 1977 (Bundesarchiv), not this race, and the inhaler is a generic one, photographed in 2022, not Lyles’s.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Satie, Gymnopedie No. 1 (Lent et douloureux) (Robin Alciatore, piano, public domain); Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain (1886 version) (Musopen, public domain); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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