It appears to be a wrap for Noah Lyles at the Paris Olympics.
The American sprinter Lyles, who won gold in the men’s 100m race on Sunday, suffered an upset in Thursday’s 200m race. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana took home the gold, and Kenny Bednarek of the United States secured the silver, while Lyles settled for the bronze. You can see the video of the race here.
After the race, Lyles, who went down to the ground after crossing the finish line and had to be taken off in a wheelchair, revealed he had been diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier in the week. Apparently, Lyles had competed in the 200m race while battling COVID.
The news led to questions about whether or not Lyles would still be able to compete in the men’s 4×100 relay, which is scheduled for Friday. In a post to his Instagram page several hours later, Lyles indicated that he would not be doing so.
“I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics,” Lyles wrote in his post as he offered congratulations and thanks for his Olympic run.
You can read Lyles’ full post below.
The 4×100 team for the U.S. still has plenty of firepower to get the job done. Bednarek, Fred Kerley (who won bronze in the 100m), Kyree King, Christian Coleman, and Courtney Lindsay are the other members of that team.
As for Lyles, he may have had a disappointing finish to the Olympics (on top of getting clowned for his bronze finish in the 200m after talking smack in the lead-up to the race). But Lyles will still return home as an Olympic gold medalist and should be proud of himself for powering through his illness to earn another individual medal on top of that.
