PARIS, France — Noah Lyles lost the Olympic 200 meters Thursday, falling to Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, then being tended to by medics who carted him off the track in a wheelchair. Later, wearing a mask as he spoke with reporters, Lyles said he had COVID.
After crossing the line third for the second straight Olympics, Lyles fell to his back and writhed in pain, staying down for nearly 30 seconds before getting up, asking for water and getting to the wheelchair.
“It definitely was an effect,” Lyles said. "But I mean, to be honest, I’m more proud of myself than anything for coming out and getting the bronze medal with COVID.”
An hour after that shock, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her world record for the sixth time, finishing the 400-meter hurdles in 50.37 seconds for another Olympic blowout.
The hurdler expected to challenger her hardest, Femke Bol, finished third, behind American Anna Cockrell, who finished 1.5 seconds behind McLaughlin-Levrone.
This is McLaughlin-Levrone's second straight gold and also the second straight Olympics the virus has played a major role in Lyles' trip to the Games.
He also won the bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, and he has said the empty stands and the year-long delay before the Games led to depression that hampered his performance and inspired his road to Paris.
Lyles said he tested positive early Tuesday morning and quickly got into quarantine.
“I still wanted to run,” he said. “They said it was possible.”
The U.S. track federation released a statement saying it and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee adhered to all Olympic and Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
“After a thorough medical evaluation, Noah chose to compete tonight,” the statement said. “We respect his decision and will continue to monitor his condition closely.”
The men's 4x100 relay is set for Friday, and Lyles was expected to run the anchor leg in what many thought would be a quest for a third gold medal in Paris. He said that decision had not been made as of late Thursday.
“I want to be very honest and transparent, and I’m going to let them make the decision,” Lyles said, describing himself as being at around 90 or 95%.
In the 200, Tebogo, 21, led wire-to-wire and won in 19.46 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in history, but .15 slower than Lyles' top time. Kenny Bednarek finished in 19.62 for his second straight silver, and Lyles, four nights after winning a close-as-can-be 100, ran the curve in 19.70.
The first sign something might be wrong came a night earlier when Lyles finished second in a lackluster semifinal, then left the track without talking to reporters to head to the medical tent. His coach said he was fine.
It became clear he was not when Tebogo and Bednarek reached the curve in the final.
Lyles was trailing as they headed into the homestretch, which is usually where he puts on a trademark closing finish that has always been the best part of this race. This time — nothing. Only a desperate push to the line then a collapse onto the purple track.
"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. So that was kind of the strategy for today.”
