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Why Noah Lyles hid the Olympics’ COVID diagnosis from his competitors

Posted on by Larry
Why Noah Lyles hid the Olympics’ COVID diagnosis from his competitors

Why Noah Lyles hid his COVID diagnosis from competitors and the media during the Olympics 0111

Noah Lyles. Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Omega

Team USA athlete Noah Lyles explained his controversial decision to keep his COVID diagnosis a secret during the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Lyles, 27, tested positive two days before he was due to race in the men’s 200 meters final in August, an event where he ultimately finished in third place.

“I can’t tell anyone,” the Olympian said in Netflix’s season 2 Sprintwhich was released on Wednesday November 13th. “I don’t want to give my competition the idea that they can beat me now because I’m sick.”

Lyles added, “I want to go into it with everyone believing that this is Noah, and this is the Noah that you had to deal with every other year.”

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Olympian Noah Lyles will stop at nothing to prove he’s one of the fastest men on the track. Lyles made headlines at the 2024 Paris Olympics when he took home the bronze medal for the 200 meters final after testing positive for COVID-19. The coronavirus guidelines in Paris do not require athletes to self-isolate or (…)

Junelle BromfieldLyles’ fiancée, who competed for Jamaica at the 2024 Games, recalled how she received the news of Lyles’ diagnosis.

“He texted me, ‘I have COVID,’” she said Sprint. “Then I think, ‘Oh, God.’

Why Noah Lyles hid his COVID diagnosis from competitors and the media during the Olympics 0110
Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Bromfield, 26, — who engaged to Lyles in October – said, “Everything went into overdrive at that point,” and she asked the Team USA star how he planned to handle the situation.

“I’ll make sure I don’t tell the media,” Lyles texted her. “Or whatever.”

The positive test came less than two days after Lyles won gold in the men’s 100 metersand he said it didn’t take long before he started feeling the symptoms.

“Of course I say, ‘Dang.’ Like, ‘God, what’s going on?’” Lyles complained. “I thought we prepared, you know? I thought I was prepared for anything.”

While Lyles took small safety precautions — like telling Netflix’s camera crew not to get too close to him at one point — he said there was no doubt he would still participate.

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Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages When the 2020 Tokyo Olympics opened in the summer of 2021 after being postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, there were regular tests, mask-wearing and a ban on spectators . Three years later, it’s a very different scene at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. According to a Wednesday, August 7, Washington Post (…)

“I always believe that God does things for a purpose and a reason,” Lyles explained. “I’ve been sick before. I have fought through illness. I would be very angry if I didn’t at least take the first chance to say, ‘Maybe I can work through this.'”

After the race, Lyles immediately fell to the groundhad trouble breathing and eventually had to be taken off the track in a wheelchair, but he still managed to win bronze.

“I came third. Huh,” Lyles said, laughing. “I came third with COVID. I’m pretty awesome.”

The second season of Sprint is now available to stream on Netflix.