Slowed by Covid, Noah Lyles settles for bronze medal in 200m: "I've never been more proud of myself"
The dream of an Olympic sprint double at Paris 2024 faded for Noah Lyles down the 200m straightaway.
But there was more to this story than just the eventual bronze medal he'd earn Thursday night (8 August) inside Stade de France.
The newly-crowned 100m Olympic champion slumped to the ground after congratuating surprise winner Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and his American teammate Kenny Bednarek, who took silver.
Then the news began to trickle out: Lyles had tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday (6 August), but decided that he still wanted to race the 200m.
His effort to claim said bronze tastes much, much different than it did three years ago at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, he said.
"I've never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and getting a bronze medal," Lyles told NBC after receiving medical treatment post-race.
"Last Olympics I was very disappointed [in bronze]... and this time I couldn't be more proud."
Lyles said he woke up Tuesday feeling "really horrible," and that a Covid test confirmed what he and team doctors feared. So they isolated the athletics sprint star, Lyles explaining all the precautions had been taken - and a constant flow of liquids.
"My first thought was not to panic," Lyles said. "I was thinking, 'I've been in worse situations. I've run with worse conditions.' And we just took day-by-day."
"It's taken its toll for sure," he added.
But it also proved that Lyles has the drive of an Olympic champion, facing a scenario that could have easily sidetracked - if not sidelined - him.
He said in an Instagram post late Thursday night that he "believed this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics," he wrote. "It is not the Olympics I dreamed of but it has left me with so much joy in my heart."
Did Noah Lyles consider skipping the 200m? "No."
Though Lyles said he was physically impacted by the virus, the thought never crossed his mind that he might withdraw from the final, being the reigning world champion in the 200m, which has been his signature event since before winning the world title in it in 2019.
"I didn't," he said when asked about considering not running. "We were just going to try to quarantine as much as possible, stay away, not try to pass it off.
"And, to give it my all."
Lyles had arrived in Tokyo talking the kind of talk he's practiced the last several months: He wanted to win four Olympic gold medals at these Games, including in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay.
After his 100m win, that dream was still alive. He was also looking to become the first man since Usain Bolt to do the sprint double at an Olympics since the Jamaican legend did so three times in a row, in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
But Lyles seemed unbothered by his quartet of golds suddenly shrinking. The effort was what he seemed the most proud of - and, in true Noah Lyles fashion, the entertainment aspect, too.
"I hope everyone enjoyed the show," he continued in his aforementioned Instagram post, which left his relay appearance(s) heavily in doubt. "Whether you were rooting for me or against me, you have to admit you watched, didn't you?"
"See you next time," he signed off on the post.