"Noah Lyles won bronze while having COVID, props to him"; "That’s irresponsible and selfish"-Fans react as Letsile Tebogo beats American for gold

Noah Lyles was dominated by Letsile Tebogo in the 200m final at the Paris Olympics 2024, finishing third behind the Botswana sprinter and fellow American Kenny Bednarek who won his second consecutive silver in the event. However, USATF announced that Lyles had run with COVID, with fans having mixed reactions over the sprinter's decision.

Lyles is the third fastest sprinter in the 200m history with a time of 19.31s. After settling for a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 27-year-old went on a 26-race win streak in the distance before being beaten by Letsile Tebogo in the semifinals on August 9.

Lyles ran 20.08s while Tebogo finished first in 19.96s. However, he had finished second in the 100m semifinals as well, and while he did manage to overturn the result in the final against Oblique Seville, he couldn't replicate the same in the 200m finals.

Expressing disappointment in his performance, a fan wrote:

"Noah Lyles I haven’t seen a choke job this bad since I don’t even fucking know what was that"

Following the race, Lyles was spotted drained out on the track with the reports coming out that the 100m champion had caught COVID. USATF later confirmed that he had tested positive two days ago and had still decided to run. They also stated that Lyles wasn't sure for the 4x400m relay finals.

"Noah Lyles winning bronze with Covid might be more impressive than the gold. Covid had my lungs in hell", a user wrote.

Here are some more reactions:

"Noah Lyles was able to win bronze while having covid and asthma… props to him," a user wrote.

"Healthy or not, i wouldn’t hold a bronze medal against Lyles. Tebogo is a beast, and so is bednarek.But if he has covid, he shouldn’t have been out there…. Breathing heavy while medical staffers crowd around him. That’s just irresponsible and selfish," another user wrote.

"Lyles has Covid and still medaled. That’s nearly as impressive as gold," a fan c0mmented.

"Noah Lyles has COVID?Is that not a health concern for the other athletes? The officials? The volunteers? We just really don’t care about COVID at all anymore? Lol," a user noted.

“When I come off the turn, they're gonna be depressed”-Noah Lyles before the 200m loss

Athletics - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 12 - Source: Getty

Noah Lyles won the 100m gold medal in a breathtaking finish but he wasn't done with just one medal. Speaking in a press conference after the race, the American sprinter expressed huge confidence in himself for the 200m dash.

"None of them is winning. When I come off the turn, they will be depressed," he said

Lyles also added that Kenny Bednarek clocking an impressive time of 19.59s at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials woke him up. He added that he was proud of him.

"Kenny definitely put up a fast time at trials and that definitely woke me up. I was very proud of him and he is definitely not going to take how he did here in the 100 lying down," Lyles said.

“He is gonna say ‘I am going after it in the 200 cause he knows he can go after it, so my job is to make sure I will be winning,” he added.