‘Thompson is a gold medalist!’: NBC announcer apologizes after incorrect 100m call

On Sunday, Kishane Thompson was briefly Olympic champion, at least for viewers in the United States.

As the athletes crossed the finish line in an incredibly exciting men’s 100-meter race, NBC’s Leigh Diffey said immediately declared the race for the Jamaican.

“There’s an Olympic gold medal waiting for somebody, who wants it the most? Now Thompson is getting excited,” Diffey said on the NBC broadcast. “Kerley’s going with him. This is close. Jamaica’s going to do it! Kishane Thompson is a gold medalist!”

Except he wasn’t. Broadcasters like the BBC in the UK refused to declare a winner until the results of a photo finish were known. And when they did, American Noah Lyles was declared the new champion.

On Monday, Diffey apologized for his mistake on X.

“The men’s 100m was epic and the closest I’ve ever been! My eyes and instincts told me Kishane Thompson won,” he wrote. “Of course he didn’t. I shouldn’t have been so bold as to say it, but I honestly thought he won. I was wrong. I’m happy for @LylesNoah because his story just keeps getting bigger!”

Diffey, who grew up in Australia before moving to the UK and US to pursue his career, writes about motorsports and the Olympics for NBC.

Diffey wasn’t the only one who thought Thompson had won. Lyles himself admitted he thought he had won silver in a race that was decided by a narrow margin.

“After the race, we were waiting for the names to come up and I’ll be honest, I came up to you and was like, ‘I think you’ve got the Olympics, bro.’ He was in lane 4, I was in lane 7, so I couldn’t really see what was going on,” Lyles said after the race. “I kept running like I was going to win. Something was telling me, ‘I need to lean back.’ It’s that kind of race. It was crazy.”

There will be more chances for Diffey to get Lyles’ finishing position correct. The American is also going for gold in the 200m, 4x100m and possibly the 4x400m this week.