PARIS. When the Vidiwall confirmed Noah Lyles as the fastest man in the world after what seemed like an eternity due to the photo finish in the spectacular Olympic 100-meter sprint, the 27-year-old American couldn’t believe his eyes. “Oh my god,” was his first reaction after Lyles had expected that Jamaican Kishane Thompson had won the race for gold.
“I went to him and said: You did it!” In the end, both of them finished in 9.79 seconds, with a fraction of five thousandths of a second deciding the difference in favor of the world champion from the United States, who was unstoppable after that. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight finalists ran under ten seconds; one could not have imagined a closer finish.
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Image: APA/AFP/JEWEL SAMAD
Lyles’ dreams are not over yet; he can still win two gold medals in the electrifying atmosphere of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis – in the 200 metres and in the 4×100 metres relay.
In the future, Usain Bolt’s sprint world record (9.58) will also be an issue. “That’s my plan. I have the personality, I have the speed, I have the entertainment gene,” Lyles trumpets.
His showmanship is undisputed, but some of it is fake. The man with the potential to become a superstar, who had the word “Icon” scribbled on his white-painted fingernails, has had some pretty tough times. As a child, he suffered from asthma attacks and numerous hospital stays, and money was tight.
The separation of his parents also affected him, and at the age of eight Lyles was already suffering from a deep depression. Today, thanks to medication and therapeutic support, he is doing better, and the evil spirits are crawling out of their holes less often. And in a magical crime thriller with a happy ending, they are off the air anyway.