SAINT-DENIS, France — Moments after he finished in third place during Thursday night’s 200-meter Olympics final, American sprinter Noah Lyles told reporters he ran the race with COVID-19, after having been diagnosed with the illness two days earlier.
“I tested positive around 5 a.m. Tuesday morning,” Lyles said, wearing a black KN95 mask inside the media mixed zone. “I woke up in the middle of the night just feeling really chills, aching, sore throat.
“And those were kind of a lot of the symptoms I’ve always had right before getting COVID, and I was just like, ‘I need to test this one.'”
The moment the test came back positive, Lyles left the Olympic Village and was quarantined at a nearby hotel, he said. He also said he was administered whatever medications he could legally take without causing problems during postrace drug testing. Paxlovid was among the medications he took, a USA Track & Field spokesperson confirmed.
“I still wanted to run; they said it was still possible,” Lyles said. “So we just stayed away from everybody and just tried to take it round by round. And 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.”
He added that he tried to keep his diagnosis as “close to the chest as possible” for several reasons.
“One, we didn’t want everybody to go into a panic; we wanted them to be able to compete,” Lyles said. “And then two, we wanted to be able to make it as discreet as possible. And you never want to tell your competitors you’re sick. Why would you give them an edge over you?”
Lyles said after the race that he wasn’t sure whether he will participate in the 4×100-meter relay on Friday, but he said the Americans have the speed to run without him.
“I’ll talk to the coaches,” Lyles said. “I’m going to be very honest and transparent with them, and I’m going to let them make the decision. I believe that no matter what happens, I believe that this 4×1 team, they can handle anything and everything. I’ve been with them in practice, and they are more than capable to come out with a win and even break as many records as they take their mind to.”
Later on Thursday, Lyles posted on social media, “I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics. It is not the Olympic I dreamed of but it has left me with so much Joy in my heart.”
One day after losing the 200-meter semifinal to Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Lyles was unable to surpass him once again in the final Thursday night.
Tebogo ran an African-record 19.46 to earn the 200-meter gold medal. Finishing just behind him with silver was American Kenny Bednarek, who posted a 19.62. Bednarek was pleased to have received a second silver, having earned one in the 200 at the Tokyo Games, but he believed he had more he could have shown Thursday.
“I knew the race was gonna be tight, and sometimes you see people in your peripheral visions and you want to do a little extra,” Bednarek said. “I felt like I didn’t do anything extra, but I know for a fact that this wasn’t my best performance.”
When he spoke with reporters, Tebogo said he didn’t know Lyles had COVID-19. Bednarek said he had no concerns about getting it from his teammate.
“I don’t care. I mean, if I get sick or whatever, I’ll be fine,” Bednarek said. “I don’t view those things as a big deal. I’m healthy, I do everything I can to make sure my body’s healthy. So it doesn’t really bother me at all.”
Tebogo said he noticed Lyles wearing a mask during warmups the past two days but didn’t know why. He felt as if Lyles must have been going through something. In terms of feeling like Lyles put him at risk for being sick, Tebogo added: “I don’t know he put anyone at risk. … We are Africans. We are strong.
“Hopefully he will recover, then I hope the team win the gold medal in the 4×100-meter.”
As soon as he crossed the finish line third, Lyles lay down on his back on the track. Within moments, he was surrounded by athletic trainers and members of the Paris Olympics medical staff, who moved him toward a wall as they administered treatment.
At one point, Lyles was seen wearing a mask before being placed in a chair that eventually was wheeled into the nearby tunnel.
“I was quite lightheaded after that race, and the shortness of breath and chest pain was definitely active,” said Lyles, who has been quite public about his longtime experiences with asthma. “But after a while underneath, I was able to catch my breath and get my wits about me. I’m doing a lot better now.
“This is by far the best day I felt out of the last three days. I still wouldn’t say I’m 100 percent, but I definitely would say I’m closer to, like, 90 percent.”
After Wednesday’s semifinal heat, Lyles did not come through the media mixed zone. He instead was taken directly to medical for reasons that weren’t disclosed.
During Thursday’s race, all eight runners got off to a somewhat even start. Lyles was in the hunt early. Around the 100-meter mark, Tebogo and Bednarek began pulling away. Although Lyles was still hanging close with them, Tebogo’s lead was one he was not relinquishing easily.
Minutes after that race, Lyles was handed a yellow card for a violation of Technical Rule 7.1 for “improper conduct.” It wasn’t immediately clear why he was given it, but during introductions, he did demonstrably jump onto the track as he heard his name.
While pumping up the crowd before the race, Lyles smacked the box housing the speaker in his lane so hard that the number on the box fell off.
Lyles’ 200-meter showing followed his 9.79-second, personal-best effort in Sunday’s close 100-meter dash. He earned the gold medal in the closest 100-meter final since at least Moscow in 1980 — or perhaps ever. Back then, Great Britain’s Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in 10.25 seconds in an era when timing didn’t go down to the thousandths of a second.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan contributed to this report.
