Noah Lyles left the Stade de France on a wheelchair after revealing that he had Covid following his failed attempt to emulate Usain Bolt’s 100m-200m Olympic sprint double.
The American, who had won the 100m by just 0.005sec on Sunday, entered the stadium by leaping up and down and cupping his ear to the fans but was left slumped at the side of the track after an emphatic defeat by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
It was suggested that Lyles had been ill in the build-up and, while he did still emulate his bronze medal of 2021 by running 19.70sec, something was clearly wrong.
Tebogo had earlier dominated the race from start to finish, producing the fifth fastest 200m in history to run 19.46sec and win his country’s first Olympic gold.
The 21-year-old was pushed all the way, however, by the American Kenny Bednarek who beat Lyles to repeat the silver medal he had won in Tokyo with a time of 19.62sec.
NBC's Lewis Johnson and BBC confirmed that Noah Lyles (@LylesNoah) ran the Olympic 200m final with COVID.
— Chris Chavez (@ChrisChavez) August 8, 2024
Tested positive two days ago. He decided that he would run anyway.
Finished third for bronze in 19.70.#Paris2024 #Olympics #Athletics pic.twitter.com/i0TKFxsIi2
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