This summer, the 2024 Summer Olympics were held in Paris, France, and one American Olympian found himself in some controversy with fellow American athletes from comments he had made in the past.
Noah Lyles is an Olympic gold medalist. He won his first gold medal this summer in the 100-meter dash by .005 of a second. It was a tight race and had to go under review for a few moments for the judges to look at the video footage to declare the winner. Lyles went on to with the bronze medal in the 200-meter dash. He also has a bronze in this event from the 2020 games.
In 2023, after winning the 100 and 200 meters at the world championship games, Lyles made comments to reporters about the National Basketball Association.
“World champions of what? The United States?” Lyles said according to CNN. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the US, at times, but that ain’t the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA.”
This stirred a lot of controversy between the NBA players and Lyles. These comments were reserved this year when the USA Basketball team won the Gold medal and Lyles received third in the 200 after lots of talk of a 100 & 200 double.
Some athletes on Wayne’s campus had some opinions of their own when it came to this debate. Quinten Dreyer, a senior on the men’s cross country and track and field team, gave some of his thoughts on the controversy.
“Noah Lyles is one of the greatest sprinters to ever do it all stages,” Dreyer said. “Yes, I do believe he is cocky but to an extent has the right to be but he has to be able to back it up with performance.”
Dreyer discussed an interview that he had watched in which Lyles was asked if the average gap of athleticism was larger between Lebron or between himself and the average human. Lyles replied, “I am the third fastest man ever to live so you are closer to Lebron than me.”
“That is one of the most confident statements that I have ever heard,” Dreyer said. “Everyone has their bad days but when that happens own up to it and know all the potential factors leading up to the race before you open your mouth.”
Taylor Thorp, a senior on the track team, see the leader and example the Lyles could be.
“He is pretty amazing at the sport and you cannot take that away from him, but I found his actions around Covid and how he ended the 200 meter races was not the best way to finish,” Thorp said. “When you are the best, you have to show the right actions when loosing knowing how many kids are looking up to you. He deserves his attention and he is a leader in the sport, but there are also a lot of other great leaders that do not get the attention that they deserve.”
