Noah Lyles knew he had COVID-19 before he raced on Thursday, but now one mind-boggling detail shows just exactly what he was dealing with in the 200-meter final at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Lyles captured bronze in the race not only after testing positive but also with a 102-degree (Fahrenheit) fever.
“Those guys raced great,” Brauman said. “But to get a bronze medal in 19.70 with a temperature of about 102, that wasn’t too bad.
“It’s hard to replace a gold medal in the 100 meters at the Olympic Games … that one was probably the most important medal. How did he put it, we talked about it — he will have the most satisfaction out of the bronze.”
Lyles, who had won gold in the 100-meter final in a photo finish, came in third behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (gold) and fellow United States teammate Kenneth Bednarek (silver).
After finishing the 200m race, Lyles was taken off in a wheelchair after falling to the ground in exhaustion.
Lyles, 27, accepted his bronze medal on Friday, wearing a face mask.
He said in the aftermath of the race that he was “proud” of himself while fighting through COVID en route to his second medal of the Paris Olympics.
“My first thought was not to panic, thinking I’ve been in worse situations,” Lyles told NBC after the race. “I’ve run with worse conditions, I felt, and we just took it day by day, trying to hydrate as much. Quarantined off. I’d definitely say that it’s taken its toll for sure, but I’ve never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and getting a bronze medal — where last Olympic I was very disappointed [with a bronze medal], and this time, I couldn’t be more proud.”
His coach added that Lyles’ summer games were fantastic despite him dealing with COVID.
“I mean, he was sick,” Brauman said. “People are going to say whatever they want, and that’s fine, but the dude was sick.
“What he had to do to muscle out that medal, that’s going to be hard to forget.”
Lyles was supposed to run in the men’s 4x100m final on Friday, but on Thursday, he announced his games were over after the 200m race.
Without him, the U.S. could not overcome a mistake-filled race and fell short of a medal.
The 27-year-old now has three Olympic medals to his name after two this time and one bronze in the 200m in Tokyo three years ago.
