Rusty Weiss
American sprinter Noah Lyles won the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter dash at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
His victory ended a 20-year drought for Team USA in the event, with the last American gold medalist being Justin Gatlin in 2004.
The fastest man alive’s win was by a very narrow margin, beating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by just five-thousandths of a second.
Lyles crossed the finish line with a winning time of 9.79 seconds. It was the 27-year-old’s first gold medal. He took home the bronze in the 200-meter event in Tokyo.
The race that won Noah Lyles the gold medal pic.twitter.com/wUMKi14aQs
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) August 4, 2024
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Noah Lyles Shares Some Inspirational Words
Tell me that race didn’t make you think of that Jerry Seinfeld bit about Olympic medals. What an impossibly close finish.
And here’s some perspective for you. When Carl Lewis won a gold medal in Seoul in 1988, he broke a world record with a time of 9.92 seconds.
Oblique Seville of Jamaica finished last in this race in Paris. His time? 9.91 seconds.
Following his big win, Noah Lyles took to social media to share some words of inspiration, noting some of the obstacles he’s faced on his way to a stellar Olympic career.
“I have Asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and Depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become,” he wrote. “Why Not You!”
In another post, he wrote, “I Told You America I Got This!”
Lyles added an ‘#OlympicChampion’ hashtag.
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A Sweet Moment … The Sweetest
Prior to the Paris Olympics, Noah Lyles was an American track and field athlete who had won multiple gold medals at the World Championships and held several national records. Injuries and continued mental health struggles, though, derailed his prior Olympic appearance.
Now he’s simply known as the fastest man in the world.
Lyles previously said representing America in the Games would be “a bittersweet moment” for him.
“I’m American, and I truly believe that we are the best in the world, especially when it comes to sports. We have definitely been proving that dominance,” he said. “And it feels good to add on to that collection that the U.S. is the best.”
It looked like a pretty sweet moment in the end.