Sprinter Noah Lyles Is ‘Proud’ He Won Bronze Medal With COVID Despite Needing Wheelchair

Getty Noah Lyles.

Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles told NBC News that he was proud he was able to win a bronze medal in the 200m final after testing positive for COVID-19 at the Paris Olympics.

Lyles told journalist Lewis Johnson in a video interview that the virus had “taken its toll for sure,” but added, “I’ve never been more proud of myself being able to come out here and get a bronze medal. Last Olympics, I was very disappointed. And this time, I couldn’t be more proud.”

NBC News posted a video on August 8 that showed Lyles in a wheelchair, with the broadcasters speculating at first that he had asthma as his mother rushed to be at his side. He was “breathing heavily” after placing third in the race, an announcer said. According to NBC News, Lyles “was taken off the track in a wheelchair.”

According to Olympics.com, after coming in third in the 200m final, Lyles “slumped to the ground” after “congratulating surprise winner Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and his American teammate Kenny Bednarek, who took silver.”

Then, Johnson announced that he had learned that Lyles tested positive for COVID on August 6.

Johnson spoke with Lyles on camera. “Yeah, I woke up early about 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning, and I just was feeling really horrible then. I knew it was more than being sore from the 100,” Lyles told Johnson. According to NBC News, Lyles generated controversy when he won the gold medal in the 100 meters by .005 seconds over Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.

Noah Lyles Says He Wanted to ‘Give It My All’ Despite the COVID Diagnosis

GettyUS’ Noah Lyles reacts after competing in the men’s 200m final.

After feeling ill, Lyles told Johnson he took a COVID test. “Unfortunately it came up that I was positive for COVID. My first thought was not to panic. I’ve been in worse situations. I’ve run with, you know, worse conditions, I felt. We just took it day by day. Tried to hydrate as much. Quarantined off.”

Lyles told Johnson that he never considered not running the 200m final. “I didn’t,” he said. “We were just going to try to quarantine as much as possible, stay away, not trying to pass it off. And to be honest, give it my all.”

At that time, he was not certain that he would compete in the upcoming relays. “Yeah at the moment, I don’t know. I’m still more on the side of letting Team USA do their thing,” he told Johnson. “They’ve proven with great certainty that they can handle it without me.”

Noah Lyles Wrote Fans That Paris Was Not the Olympics He ‘Dreamed Of’

Lyles later decided that he was not going to compete anymore at the Paris Olympics. Due to the COVID diagnosis, Lyles will “miss out on the rest of the Games,” NBC News reported, adding that he was supposed to compete on relay teams, although his individual competitions are over already.

Lyles wrote a message to fans on his Instagram page on August 9.

“First I want to thank God for getting me through this entire Olympics! Second I want to congratulate @tebogo_letsile_ , @kenny_bednarek and everyone else on an amazing Olympic 200m final,” he wrote. “Finally I want to thank everyone for the supportive messages. I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics. It is not the Olympic I dreamed of but it has left me with so much Joy in my heart. I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Whether you were rooting for me or against me, you have to admit you watched, didn’t you? 😉 See you next time.”

According to ESPN, Lyles didn’t tell his competitors that he had COVID to keep his “edge.”

“One, we didn’t want everybody to go into a panic; we wanted them to be able to compete,” Lyles said. “And then two, we wanted to be able to make it as discreet as possible. And you never want to tell your competitors you’re sick. Why would you give them an edge over you?” he said, according to ESPN.

“I still wanted to run; they said it was still possible,” Lyles said, according to ESPN. “So we just stayed away from everybody and just tried to take it round by round. And to be honest, I knew if I wanted to come out here and win, I had to give everything I had from the get-go. I didn’t have any time to save energy.”