SAINT-DENIS, France — Once again, Noah Lyles got off to a foul start. His response time was the worst of the eight-man field. Slow starts cost him victory in the primary round and again within the semifinals.
Given the superb field, one among the strongest in Olympic history, this appeared like a recipe for disaster. Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville set incredible times. American Fred Kerley was in top form. Even reigning Olympic champion Lamont Marcel Jacobs from Italy was in good form.
Seeing Lyles in fifth place after 20 meters felt like doom.
“It just goes to show,” Lyles said, “that races are not won by starts.”
But a foul start could have been luck. For for all his boasting, Lyles is at heart the final word competitor. He may come across as smug and boastful, a recipe that typically comprises only a teaspoon of substance. But Lyles is a person within the hardest sense of the word. His heart is at the least as big as his mouth.
This was announced for all eternity on Sunday evening within the Olympic 100-meter final.
Lyles was behind world class players and needed to play his best after two consecutive losses. The slow start was his biggest advantage. Lyles' refusal to lose made this thrilling final a historic event.
That's the fastest time he's ever run: 9.79 seconds. Technically it was 9.784. He's America's first 100-meter gold medalist in 20 years. After winning the 2023 World Championships and now an Olympic gold medal in 2024, he's the undisputed fastest man on this planet.
Thompson took silver with a 9.789. Kerley, who won silver on the Tokyo Olympics, added bronze to his resume with a private better of 9.81. Five of the highest six times were personal bests, season bests or national records. Seville ran 9.91 and got here last. Just a ridiculous round of 16.
But Lyles said the moment is rarely too big for him, it’s made for him. It doesn't get any larger than what happened on Sunday on the Stade de France. On the most important stage of his life, in front of the entire world, in an arena that gave him goosebumps, Lyles made the moment his own.
His mouth wrote the check. His feet cashed it.
“I want my own shoes,” said Lyles, a longtime Adidas endorser. “I want my own sneaker. … I want a sneaker. You can't make money in spikes. You can make money in sneakers.”
The photo finish at the top. (Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images)
Lyles' boasting isn’t without merit. His calculated theatrics and thirst for attention may make him seem a bit lower than awesome. His arrogance causes some to resent him.
But what he did, you possibly can't do in case you don't have the center for it.
Phase one among Lyles' grand plan for immortality is complete. After completing the 100 meters, he’ll begin the 200 meters on Monday.
Carl Lewis was the last American to do what Lyles is now attempting to do: win gold within the 100 and 200 meters at the identical Olympic Games. Lewis did it in Los Angeles in 1984. Michael Johnson was the last American to do a sprint double. He won the 200 and 400 meters in Atlanta in 1996.
The hardest thing for Lyles was the gold medal within the 100-meter race. The 200 meters is his major event. He is the perfect on this planet on this event and has been for the whole Olympic cycle.
“Pretty confident. I can't lie,” Lyles said. “Kenny ran a fast time at the trials. That definitely woke me up. I was very proud of him. I'm sure he's not going to take his performance here in the 100 down. He's going to say, 'I'm going to try the 200.' My job is to make sure that…”
Lyles paused. Then he flashed his smile.
“I’ll just leave it there.”
Kerley, who had been mostly silent throughout the press conference and had obviously been doing his duty, perked up and spoke up.
“Talk that shit,” Kerley said to Lyles.
“This man is not winning,” Lyles added. “None of them are winning. If I come off the curve, they're going to be depressed.”
What all the time takes precedence within the realm of jokes is the justification. Hubris is less complicated to bear when it’s justified.
Lyles' best likelihood to interrupt his silence got here within the 100-meter dash. At the 2021 U.S. Olympic Qualifiers, Lyles finished seventh within the 100-meter final and did not qualify for the Tokyo Games within the 100 meters.
SEVENTH.
He and coach Lance Brauman went to work and trained him to be an elite short-distance sprinter.
NOAH LYLES IS THE FASTEST MAN OF LIFE 🇺🇸
Lyles beat Kishane Thompson by 4 thousandths of a second and narrowly won the gold medal.
He is the primary American to win this event in 20 years.
🎥 @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/sKMer9mPOh
— The Athlete (@TheAthletic) 4 August 2024
That's the ignored a part of all this. What Lyles completed to develop into a world-class sprinter in the top of racing is a testament to his immense talent and drive. He entered a brand new realm that had his great talents and decided to make use of them.
He did so loudly and with a certainty that insulted the incumbents. Three years later, he sits alone on the throne vacated by Usain Bolt. He talked about wanting to do it. He predicted he would do it. And then he did it. The kid from the Washington, DC area did a Marlo and took over one other turf.
So Lyles began jumping and screaming when he walked through the mixed zone and saw Brauman. He had yet another run in him that night, through the rope maze, around a barrier and into the media-filled room, so he could have a good time with the coach who had helped him pull it off.
The Netflix cameras record every little thing for season 2 of the documentary series “Sprint”.
At first, Lyles thought he hadn't won. It really looked like Thompson had beaten him. Lyles said he was able to swallow his pride and accept the loss to a matched opponent.
Immediately after the race, the final result of which was so close that only technology could determine it, Lyles went to Thompson and told him, “I think you caught that one big dog.”
In his first two races of those Olympics, Lyles was unable to get well from slow starts. In the primary heat of the 100 metres on Saturday, he fell behind and was unable to catch Britain's Louie Hinchliffe. He said he underestimated the sector, something he wouldn’t repeat.
On Saturday, within the semi-finals, he shared a run with Sevilla. It wasn't just any run. The two have history.
Oblique Seville may sound like an old-school Cadillac, but he’s anything but slow. And after ending fourth against Lyles on the 2023 World Championship, the 23-year-old Jamaican has only gone from strength to strength.
He beat Lyles within the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica in June. Seville not only ran a 9.82, but in addition glanced at Lyles while doing so.
Lyles in fact, replied on X: “I'll keep that in mind. See you in Paris.”
On Sunday they faced one another within the semi-finals.
Sevilla had a significantly better start and gave the impression to be comfortably within the lead. But Lyles, after his first lap misfire and on account of his rivalry with the Jamaicans, recovered significantly better. This time Lyles was chasing the leader. He seemed ready for a fight.
A composite image of the boys's 100m. (Photo: Hector Vivas / Getty Images)
Despite a slow start, he ran a time of 9.83. However, he didn’t overtake Seville, who ran a private better of 9.81.
When Lyles tried a 3rd time and slowly emerged from the starting blocks, the packed crowd had every reason to imagine he was going to lose. After about 20 meters, he was no higher than fifth.
But Lyles has talked loads about transcending the game and taking athletics to a brand new level. He has talked about wanting more spirited competition along with his peers. More trash talking. More racing. More competition amongst the perfect. That's essentially what he wanted.
He needed to fight for that title. So Lyles stepped up a gear. The gear that the greats have. He didn't make this race an issue of technique. Or pure form. Or the best talent. It was about willpower. It was in regards to the time-honored tradition that racing is the measure of a person.
He caught up with the leaders. They pushed him. He pushed them. In the top, it was a finish, a moment that will probably be remembered for generations.
When the outcomes got here in, even Lyles was stunned.
“Everyone in the field knew they could win this race. I didn't do it against a slow field. I did it against the best of the best, on the biggest stage, with the biggest pressure. And when I saw my name, I thought, 'Oh my God! There it is!'”
The difference was Lyles' perfectly timed tilt. His chest crossed the finish line 0.005 seconds ahead of Thompson. Lyles won due to his heart.
Required reading
image credit : www.nytimes.com