The 2024 Paris Olympics have been filled with excitement, with track & field competitors accomplishing crazy feats. Noah Lyles is one such athlete. Lyles won gold in the 100-meter dash in an air-tight finish. However, reports surfaced that the star sprinter was diagnosed with COVID after his 200m bronze finish on Thursday. Lyles has broken the silence on the news.
Lyles told reporters he woke up Tuesday morning feeling sick, and he knew it more than just being sore from his 100-meter race the day prior.
“[I] woke up the doctors and tested, and unfortunately it came up that I was positive for COVID. My first thought was not to panic. I'm thinking, ‘I've been in worse situations.' I've run with worse conditions. We just took it day by day, try to hydrate as much [as possible], quarantined off. It's taken its toll for sure,” Lyles said via NBC Olympics on X (formerly Twitter).”I've never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and getting a bronze medal where last Olympics I was very disappointed. And this time, I couldn't be more proud.”
Noah Lyles said he did not consider sitting the 200m final out after his diagnosis. He was determined to compete and took as many steps as he could to quarantine and not spread his illness. Furthermore, Lyles said he is okay with forgoing his spot on Team USA's 4 by 100-meter relay, given his status.
“I'm feeling more on the side of letting Team USA do their thing. They've proven with great certainty that they can handle it without me. And if that's the case coming off today, I'm perfectly fine saying, ‘You guys go do your thing. You guys have more than enough speed to be able to handle it and get the gold medal,'” Lyles added.
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