Lyles wins 200m bronze before Covid diagnosis revealed as Tebogo takes gold

On Noah Lyles’s heavily ripped torso there is a four-letter tattoo, spelt out in capital letters: ICON. He decided to get it six years ago as an act of ­manifestation. Ink it and it will come. But the American’s dream of winning four golds at these ­Olympics came to an abrupt end because of Covid – and a kid from Botswana they call the schoolboy.

The rumours of Lyles’s sickness began to swirl around the Stade de France moments after he finished with bronze in the final of 200m, which has always been his best event by far. The news was soon confirmed by Lyles, who said he had tested ­positive at about 5am on Tuesday morning after waking up in the ­middle of the night with chills, aches and a sore throat.

“I was feeling really horrible,” he said after the race, speaking through a mask. “I knew it was more than just being sore from the 100m [which he won on Sunday]. Woke up the doctors, we tested and unfortunately it came up that I was positive for Covid.

“My first thought was not to panic. I’ve been in worse situations and I’ve run with worse conditions. We just took it day by day, trying to hydrate as much, quarantined off. I’d definitely say it’s taken its toll, for sure. But I’ve never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and get a bronze medal.”

Unfortunately for Lyles this is now the second successive Olympics that Covid has probably cost him a 200m gold medal. As his coach, Lance Brauman, has since admitted, Lyles struggled with having to isolate in 2020 and 2021 and it affected his mental health and his subsequent performances.

On Thursday night the American said he felt as if he was improving and was close to 90 or 95% for this 200m final. But his sickness meant he had to change his strategy for the race.

“I knew if I wanted to come out here and win I would have to give everything I’ve had from the get-go,” he said. “I still wanted to run, we decided it was still possible, so we just stayed away from everybody and tried to take it round by round. I didn’t have any time to save energy. That was the strategy.”

Lyles certainly gave it his all for the first 60 or 70 metres and looked to be leading as he entered the crown of the bend. But there was none of his customary acceleration around it. The tank started to empty and he could only watch as Letsile Tebogo crossed the line in 19.46sec.

Lyles, who congratulated the ­Botswanan with a hug after the race, also defended his decision to not tell anyone that he was sick. “We didn’t want everybody to go into a panic,” he explained.

“We wanted to be able to compete. We wanted to make it as discreet as possible and you don’t want to tell your competitors you are sick, why would you give them an edge?”

Another American, Kenny Bednarek, took silver in 19.62, while Lyles was third in 19.70. The time was fast for most people. But for him it was dawdling.

Tebogo would have been even quicker if he had not thumped his chest moments before the line. It was just a shame that Lyles was not in top shape, because it would have been quite some battle.

“It was really a beautiful race for me,” Tebogo said. “When we made it to the final, my coach just told me: ‘Now my job is done, it’s up to you to see what you can do. Whether it’s a medal or not, just finish the race healthy.’ That’s all I could’ve wished for. I’m happy I finished the race healthier than before.”

What made Tebogo’s performance even more impressive is that he took nearly a month off after the death of his mother on 19 May. “It wasn’t really clicking for me that she’s really gone,” he said. “For me, I have to find the reason why I started my athletics journey and why I should continue going on.”

The spikes he wore here in Paris also carried her date of birth to ­honour her. “It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field,” he said. “Me, to take her, it gives me a lot of motivation.

“She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy. I didn’t want to put the date of her death, because I’ll get emotional.”

Lyles, meanwhile, could not believe what happened as he ­collapsed to the ground. “I’ve had better days but I am walking around again,” he said. “I was quite light‑headed after that race. The chest pain was definitely active. But after a while I caught my breath and had my wits about me. I feel a lot ­better now.”

However, he admitted that he was tempted not to run in the final of the 4x100m relay. “At the moment I don’t know,” he said. “I’m feeling more on the side of letting Team USA do their thing. They’ve proven with great certainty that they can handle it without me.

“If that’s the case coming off today, then I’m perfectly fine saying: ‘You guys go do your thing, you guys have more than enough speed to be able to handle it and get the gold medal.’”