COVID-stricken Noah Lyles collapses after getting bronze
American track and field athlete Noah Lyles tests positive for COVID-19 and finishes third in 19.70 in the 200m Paris Olympic final
Noah Lyles, of the United States, lies on the track after competing in the men’s 200m final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Thursday (August 8, 2024).
| Photo Credit: AP
The first sign of trouble Thursday (August 8, 2024) night came when Noah Lyles started rounding the curve in the Olympic final of the 200 meters — the sprint that has always been his best race.
Normally at the curve, Lyles starts making up ground, then pulling away from what have been — for the last three years — game but overmatched contenders.
This time, his momentum stalled. Instead of Lyles reeling in the runner two lanes to his right, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Tebogo pulled farther away. The American favourite, who had gone three years without losing in the 200, laboured into the finish and collapsed onto the track after ending up in third.
The insidious specter of COVID, the killer virus that upended the globe four years ago and made the last Olympics part of its collateral damage, struck at the Paris Games, too.
In a bracing reminder that the virus is still very much a factor, even if its deadly fingerprint has been blunted, the world's marquee sprinter, racing on the world's biggest sports stage, revealed he had tested positive two days before his shocking, but now not-inexplicable, bronze-medal finish in the 200m.
“I still wanted to run,” Lyles said, wearing a mask, as he spoke to reporters, whose mere congregation in a jam-packed scrum underneath the stadium was unthinkable three years ago at the delayed Tokyo Games. “They said it was possible.” With the blessing of officials at the USA Track and Field and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, who said they followed protocol, Lyles did run.
He finished in 19.70. That was 0.39 off his personal-best, and 0.24 behind the 21-year-old Tebogo. Lyles' U.S. teammate Kenny Bednarek finished second, marking the second straight Olympics in which he and Lyles finished 2-3.
“When I saw Kenny fade, I knew Noah was far, far, far away behind us,” Tebogo said. "So that means I'm the Olympic champion.” It was Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone vs her own world record. An hour after that shock, Americans Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her world record for the sixth time, finishing the 400-meter hurdles in 50.37 seconds for another Olympic blowout.
Lyles seemed like a sure thing, until things got weird the night before coming into Paris, Lyles, the three-time world champion with the American record and the world's best time of 2024 on his resume, had seemed like as sure a thing in the 200m as any single athlete at track this side of McLaughlin-Levrone.
After opening with a scintillatingwin in the 100m four nights earlier, he was trying to become the first man to complete the 100-200 double since Usain Bolt did it eight years ago.
A troubling sign, however, came the night before when Lyles finished second in his semifinal heat, also to Tebogo. It marked the first time he had lost a 200-meter race of any sort since his disappointing third-place finish in Tokyo.
He also hurried out of the stadium after that loss and went to the medical tent — a rare occasion when he didn't stop to talk to reporters. His coach said he was fine.
Lyles said he tested positive two days after the 100m final. Turns out he wasn't. Lyles said he tested positive early Tuesday (August 6, 2024) morning and quickly got into quarantine.
He drank fluids, rested as much as possible and tried to gear up for the race. USATF said in a statement that Lyles was given “a thorough medical evaluation” and chose to compete.
“We respect his decision and will continue to monitor his condition closely," the statement said.
The scene after the race was jarring. Usually one of the most energetic guys on the track, both before and after any sprint, Lyles collapsed, rolled onto his side and gasped for breath. He turned over on his hands and knees, then went to one knee, and balanced himself with his fist.
He finally stood up and wobbled toward the medics, signaling for a cup of water. Then, he left in a wheelchair.
“It definitely was an effect,” Lyles said. “But I mean, to be honest, I’m more proud of myself than anything for coming out and getting the bronze medal with COVID. This bronze medal feels different than the last one. It will take time for all the repercussions of this race to play out.”
After he won the 100 Sunday (August 4, 2024) night, he took that Tokyo bronze medal out during his news conference, dropped it on the table and explained it was the thing that motivated him to become a new person and a new sprinter for this Olympic cycle.
The 100-meter thriller sealed the first half of the deal. But instead of breezing through the 200, just getting to the starting line became a product of “trying to get me on as much medication as we legally could to make sure that my body was able to just keep the momentum going.”
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