On Noah Lyles’ badly ripped torso is a tattoo of four letters, in all caps: ICON. He decided to get it six years ago as a manifestation. Get it tattooed and it will come. But on Thursday night, the American’s dream of winning four golds at these Olympics was cut short by Covid — and a kid from Botswana they call the Schoolboy.
Rumors of Lyles’ illness began swirling around the Stade de France moments after he finished with a surprise bronze in the 200m, his all-time best event. The news was quickly confirmed by Lyles, who said he tested positive at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning after waking with chills, aches and a sore throat.
“I felt absolutely awful,” he admitted, speaking through a mask. “I knew it was more than just muscle pain from the 100m. We woke the doctors up, we did some testing and unfortunately it turned out I was positive for Covid.
“My first thought was not to panic,” he added. “I’ve been in worse situations and I’ve run in worse conditions. We just took it day by day, tried to hydrate as much as possible, quarantined. I would definitely say it took its toll, that’s for sure. But I’ve never been so proud of myself to come here and get a bronze medal.”
This is now the second consecutive Games that Covid has likely cost Lyles an Olympic 200m gold. As his coach, Lance Brauman, has since said, Lyles struggled with being isolated in 2020 and 2021, which impacted his mental health and his subsequent performance at the Tokyo Games, where he also won bronze.
It also raises further questions about the prevalence of Covid at the Games. There are rumours that numerous coaches and athletes have had it, with Britain’s Adam Peaty testing positive the day after the 100m breaststroke final, winning silver with the first symptoms. However, organisers have played down suggestions that it is widespread in the Olympic village.
Lyles said afterwards that he felt like he was getting better in the hours leading up to the race and that he was feeling close to 90 or 95 percent when he was called to the starting blocks. But his illness meant that he had to change his racing tactics.
“I knew that if I wanted to come here and win, I had to give everything I had from the beginning,” the 27-year-old said. “I didn’t have time to save energy. That was the strategy.”
The American kept his word. He did indeed appear to be in the lead after 60 or 70 meters. But there was no sign of his usual acceleration at the turn. The tank was running low and he could only watch as Letsile Tebogo crossed the finish line in 19.46 seconds to win Botswana’s first Olympic gold.
Another American, Kenny Bednarek, took silver in 19.62, while Lyles was third in 19.70. The time was fast for most people. But for him it was a dawdle.
The 21-year-old Tebogo would undoubtedly have been even faster had he not beaten his chest just before the finish line – both in triumph and in memory of his mother, who died in May. He later revealed that he had taken three to four weeks off as he struggled to come to terms with her death.
“It didn’t really click for me that she’s really gone,” he said. “For me, it’s a matter of finding the reason why I started my athletics journey and why I have to continue with it. It was a really beautiful race for me.”
The spikes he wore here in Paris also bore her birth date to honor her. “I actually carry her with me every step of the way,” he added. “Me, to have her with me, it gives me a lot of motivation. She’s looking up there and she’s really, really happy. I didn’t want to put the date of her death because then I get emotional.”
Lyles, meanwhile, clearly couldn’t believe his Olympic ambitions had been thwarted when he collapsed to the ground. “I’ve had better days, but I’m walking around again,” he said. “I was pretty dizzy after that race. The chest pain was definitely active. But after a while, I got my breathing back and I came to my senses. I feel a lot better now.”
However, he said he was inclined to avoid the 4x100m relay final even if he improved over the next 24 hours. “Right now I don’t know,” he said. “I feel more on the side of letting Team USA do their thing. They’ve proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can do it without me.
“If that’s the case, then I’m fine with saying, ‘You guys are going to do your thing, you have more than enough speed to handle it and get the gold medal.'”
Lyles, who congratulated Tebogo with a hug after the race, also defended his decision not to tell anyone that he was sick. “We didn’t want everyone to panic,” he explained. “We wanted to be able to compete. We wanted to make it as discreet as possible and you don’t want to tell your competitors that you’re sick, so why give them an advantage?”