Noah Lyles wins 200m bronze; COVID diagnosis revealed after race
SAINT-DENIS, France -- Barely an hour after he earned his first gold medal Sunday night, Noah Lyles told anyone who would listen what would happen when he went for his second later in the week.
"I'll be winning," Lyles said.
Turns out, this time he was wrong.
One day after losing the 200-meter semifinal to Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Lyles was unable to surpass him once again in the final Thursday night.
Tebogo ran an African-record 19.46 to earn the 200-meter gold medal. Finishing just behind him with silver was American Kenny Bednarek, who posted a 19.62-second showing.
Rounding out the podium placers with bronze was the American sprinter Lyles, who finished in 19.70 seconds. It's the second straight Olympics in which he earned a bronze medal in the race that he has long billed as his premier even
As soon as he crossed the finish line third, Lyles laid down on his back on the track. He placed his hands on his head with a look of disbelief on his face. Within moments, he was surrounded by athletic trainers and members of the Paris Olympics medical staff, who moved him toward a wall as they administered some level of treatment.
At one point, Lyles was seen wearing a mask before being placed in a chair which was eventually wheeled into the nearby tunnel.
It was immediately unclear what Lyles' medical status was following the race, although NBC's broadcast indicated it had spoken with his mother, who said he had been diagnosed with COVID on Tuesday.
Just after Wednesday's semifinal heat in which Lyles finished second to Tebogo, Lyles did not come through the media mixed zone. He instead was taken directly to medical for what was an undisclosed reason.
During Thursday's race, all eight runners got off to a somewhat even start. Lyles was in the hunt early. Around the 100-meter mark, Tebogo and Bednarek began pulling away. Although Lyles was still hanging close with them, Tebogo's lead was one he was not relinquishing easily.
Minutes after the race, Lyles was also handed a yellow card for a violation of Technical Rule 7.1 for "improper conduct." It wasn't immediately clear why he was given it, but during introductions, he did demonstrably jump onto the track as he heard his name.
While pumping up the crowd before the race, Lyles smacked the box housing the speaker in his lane so hard that the number on it box fell off.
Lyles' 200-meter showing followed his 9.79-second, personal-best effort in Sunday's close 100-meter dash. He earned the gold medal in what was the closest 100-meter final since at least Moscow in 1980 -- or perhaps ever. Back then, Great Britain's Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in 10.25 seconds in an era when timing didn't go down to the thousandths of a second.
