A phone call with his therapist after a worrying semi-final helped propel Noah Lyles to the top of the Olympic podium on Aug 4, after years of rebuilding his mental health to reach the pinnacle of his sport.
The American put on the performance of a lifetime to take the 100 metres gold by five-thousandths of a second in 9.79, in a blistering final where a 9.91 from Jamaican Oblique Seville was only good enough to finish last at the Stade de France.
Jamaican Kishane Thompson was second in the closest finish in modern Olympic history, while American Fred Kerley took bronze in 9.81.
Even Lyles admitted he thought Thompson, who came into the final as the fastest man in 2024, had beaten him.
"He said, "Hey Kishane I thought you got it' and I said, 'I'm not sure"," Thompson said. "I would have loved to win today, but big up to the whole field." Seville had crossed the line ahead of Lyles in their semi-final, and the United States sprinter said he needed to get into the right mindset for his medal race.
This story is from the August 06, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the August 06, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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