4 min readNoah Lyles had an incredible Olympic Games. Anyone who understands track and field—or sports—can see that.
The 27-year-old masterfully made it through the rounds of the 100 meters before becoming the world’s fastest man. He then contracted COVID-19 and still managed to get a bronze medal in the 200 meters. (Should he have competed while he was positive for COVID? This writer says no, for a variety of reasons, but the point remains that it’s impressive he was able to become third best in the world while dealing with a reported 102-degree fever).
For all of this, Lyles still appears to be the favorite punching bag of American sports fans—and even a few American athletes.
Part of this is Lyles’s own doing. He put a target on his back last year when he questioned whether or not winners of the NBA Finals can call themselves “world champions.”
“World champion of what? The United States?” he asked at a press conference after the 2023 World Athletics Championships. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the U.S., at times, but that ain’t the world. That is not the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA.”
Sure, Lyles was a bit off base in those comments. The NBA—while based exclusively in North America—features players from all around the globe. The top team in the NBA is almost certainly the best basketball team in the world.
But this seems to go deeper than fans doing some light Twitter trolling.
The hater’s theory is that Lyles didn’t have COVID when he placed third in the 200 meters because, uh, he was seen partying days after the race and days after he posted a negative COVID test. Seems like a fairly normal sequence of events!
This theory popped up again in the national zeitgeist this week when the topic of Lyles came up on “Up & Adams,” an NFL show hosted by Kay Adams on FanDuel TV. Adams asked Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill about Lyles’ “world champs” comments.
“Noah Lyles can’t say nothing after what just happened to him. You know what I’m saying?” Hill said this week when Adams asked him about Lyles’s ‘world champs’ comments. “Then he wants to come out and pretend like he’s sick? I feel like that’s horseradish. So for him to, like, do that and say that we’re not world champions of our sport, says, like come on bro, speak on what you know about.”
Adams, who didn’t challenge Hill on his comments that Lyles was “pretending” to be sick, then asked Hill if he’d like to race Lyles when he gets home.
“I would beat Noah Lyles,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t beat him by a lot, but I would beat Noah Lyles.”
Hill was a strong sprinter in his own right. In 2012, he ran what is now the third fastest time ever by a U.S. high schooler at 20.14. Since then, Hill has become a top receiver in the NFL (and has his share of off-the-field issues, too).
One of the two sprinters ahead of Hill on that all-time 200-meter list is none other than Lyles himself. Lyles, of course, has been honing his craft on the track since he ran 20.09 in high school. Hill did run one race recently—a 60-meter dash at the USATF Master Championships in 2023—which he won in 6.70. Lyles ran 6.43 this year, which is the second fastest time in the world.
Oh, and Tyreek, we didn’t forget that you were dusted by linebacker Micah Parsons (and two other NFL players) in the NFL’s own “Fastest Man” race in 2022.
To be clear, Lyles shouldn’t race Hill. He doesn’t have to. He also doesn’t have to entertain the idea that he made up having COVID as an excuse for why he earned an Olympic bronze medal. He has nothing to prove to Hill, you, or me.
Sports debates are meant to be fun, and track fans can at least bask in the fact that our sport is at the center of the hottest debate in town. But the hate thrown at Lyles isn’t coming from an honest place. To steal a phrase from NBA fans: they don’t know ball.
Lyles has strived to become the face of track and field. There are going to be some lumps along the way when you’re the center of the media’s attention. But maybe put some respect on the three-time Olympic medalist’s name.
He’s still the world’s fastest man. And you’re not.
Dan Beck is the deputy news editor at Runner’s World. He has led news coverage teams for major running events like the Olympic Games, World Athletics Championships, Boston Marathon, and New York City Marathon. A former collegiate distance runner at DeSales University, he still enjoys running, just more slowly now. Before coming to Runner’s World, he covered track and field and cross-country at MileSplit. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, where the two like to explore the city’s rich dining scene.
