SAINT-DENIS, France — Noah Lyles got off to another poor start. His reaction time was tied for worst among the eight competitors. He got off to a slow start in the first round and then again in the semifinals.
The most impressive field in Olympic history looked like it was going to be a disaster. Jamaica's Kishane Thompson and Oblique Sevilla were posting incredible times. America's Fred Curley was in top form. So was Italy's Lamont Marcel Jacobs, the defending Olympic champion.
I felt despair when I saw 20 meters in and Lyles in fifth place.
“It just goes to show that races aren't won at the start,” Lyles said.
But that false start may have been a blessing, because for all his boasting, Lyles is a competitor at heart. He may come across as arrogant and showy, but there's very little substance to it. But Lyles is a thug in the harshest sense of the word. His heart is at least as big as his mouth.
That much was made clear on Sunday night in the history-making Olympic 100-meter final.
With world-class players on his tail and coming off consecutive losses, Lyles had to be at his best. A slow start brought out his greatest strengths and Lyles' refusal to give up set up a tense final that was historic.
That's the fastest he's ever run, 9.79 seconds. 9.784 to be exact. He's the first American to win a 100m gold medal in 20 years. With a world championships win in 2023 and an Olympic win in 2024, he's the undisputed fastest man in the world.
Thompson won silver with a time of 9.789. Curley, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, took bronze with a personal best of 9.81. Five of the top six places were personal bests, season bests or national records. Sevilla finished last in 9.91. These are eight truly incredible sprinters.
But Lyles said this moment wasn't too big for him, but rather, it was made for him. And it never happened bigger than what happened at the Stade de France on Sunday. On the biggest stage of his life, with the world watching, with the crowd standing there shivering, Lyles made this moment his own.
His mouth wrote the check and his feet cashed it.
“I want my own shoes,” said Lyles, a longtime Adidas sponsor. “I want my own trainers. … I want my own sneakers. I don't make money on cleats. I make money on sneakers.”
The final result was a photo finish. (Photo: Dimitar Dirkov/AFP via Getty Images)
Lyles' boasting is not unfounded, and his calculated theatricality and desire for attention may make him seem less than pious. His arrogance has led some to disagree with him.
But you can't do what he did unless you have heart.
The first stage of Lyles' grand plan for immortality is complete: He's conquered the 100 meters and now he'll tackle the 200 meters on Monday.
Carl Lewis was the last American to win gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters at the same Olympics, which is what Lyles is aiming for. Lewis did it in Los Angeles in 1984. Michael Johnson was the last American to win a double gold medal in a sprint. He won the 200 and 400 meters in Atlanta in 1996.
The toughest thing for Lyles was winning the gold medal in the 100 meters. The 200 meters is his main event. He is the No. 1 in the world in that event and has maintained that status throughout the entire Olympic period.
“I'm pretty confident, I'm not gonna lie,” Lyles said. “Kenny ran a fast time in the trials and that woke me up. I'm super proud of him. He's definitely not going to rest on his laurels in the 100. He'll say, 'I'm going to try in the 200.' My job is to make sure that happens…”
Lyles paused, then smiled.
“Leave it as it is.”
Curley, who had been silent throughout much of the press conference, apparently out of bronze medal obligations, perked up and interjected.
“Talk that shit,” Carly told Lyles.
“That guy can't win,” Lyles said. “Nobody can win. When I finish my turn, everybody's going to be down.”
In the world of jokes, the priority is always to back it up. Arrogance is easier to accept when it is justified.
The best chance to shut Lyles up came in the 100 meters. Lyles finished seventh in the 100-meter final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, missing out on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in the 100 meters.
7th.
He and his coach, Lance Brauman, worked hard to develop him into a top-notch sprinter.
Noah Lyles is the fastest man in the world 🇺🇸
Lyles narrowly won the gold medal, beating Kishane Thompson by four-thousandths of a second.
He is the first American man in 20 years to win the tournament.
🎥 @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/sKMer9mPOh
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 4, 2024
That's the part of all this that's often overlooked: what Lyles accomplished to become a world-class sprinter at the highest level of competition is a testament to his immense talent and drive. He decided to step into a new field with incredible talent and challenge himself to do so.
He proclaimed it loud and clear with such conviction that he derided the incumbents. Three years later, he sits alone on the throne vacated by Usain Bolt. He said he wanted to do it, predicted he would, and did it. A kid from the Washington, D.C., area followed Marlo's lead and took over another turf.
That's why, when he saw Blauman while walking through the mixed zone, Lyles started jumping up and down and screaming. He had the energy to run through the maze of ropes, around the barriers and out to the media-filled area to celebrate with the coach who helped him get through it.
Netflix cameras captured the entirety of Season 2 of the documentary series “Sprint.”
At first, Lyles didn't think he could win. It looked like Thompson had beaten him. Lyles swallowed his pride and said he was willing to lose to a worthy opponent.
Immediately after the race, in which the results were so close they had to be adjudicated using technology, Lyles went up to Thompson and said, “I think you've got one of the big dogs.”
Lyles couldn't recover from slow starts in his first two races at the Games, falling behind in the first 100 meters on Saturday and failing to catch Britain's Louis Hinchliffe. He said he underestimated the other runners and won't do it again.
On Saturday, he faced Sevilla in the semifinals, and this wasn't just any matchup. These two teams have history.
Oblique Seville may sound like an old Cadillac, but it's far from slow, and even after finishing fourth to Lyles at the 2023 World Championships, the 23-year-old Jamaican continues to get better.
He beat Lyles in the Racers' Grand Prix of Jamaica in June, not only in a time of 9.82 seconds, but also in the process, winning the race against Lyles.
Of course, Lyles wrote X back: “I'll keep that in mind. See you in Paris.”
On Sunday, they lined up next to each other in the semifinals.
Sevilla started well and looked to be comfortably ahead, but after stumbling in the first round, due in part to his rivalry with the Jamaican, Lyles bounced back better, and this time Lyles had the leader on his tail, and he looked ready for the fight.
Composite image of the Men's 100 meters. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
He clocked 9.83 seconds despite a slow start, but still couldn't overtake Sevilla, who ran a personal best of 9.81.
So when Lyles did the same thing for the third time at the start, he got off to a slow start and the capacity crowd was convinced he was going to lose, and with about 20 meters to go he was ranked no higher than fifth.
But Lyles has spoken extensively about going beyond the sport and taking track and field to a new level — about wanting more competition with his teammates, more name-calling, more races, more matches between the best. Essentially, that's what he wanted.
He had to fight for this victory, so Lyles stepped up another gear, the gear of the greats. He made this a race not of skill, or pure form, or talent. He made it a race of wills, a race in the time-honored tradition of foot racing, a test of manhood.
He caught the leaders, they caught him, he caught them, and finally, there was a finish, a moment that will be remembered for generations to come.
When the results came in, even Lyles was stunned.
“Every single one of us came into this race knowing we could win it. I didn't do this against the slower guys. I did this against the best guys, on the biggest stage, under the most pressure. And when I saw my name, I was like, 'Oh my God! I'm up there!'”
The difference was a perfectly timed lean by Lyles, whose chest crossed the line before Thompson's by 0.005 seconds. Lyles won through the power of heart.
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(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
