"That was not the first time I ever said that"- Noah Lyles makes his stance clear on the NBA 'World Champions' controversy

Noah Lyles spoke about the controversy surrounding his interview in which he said that NBA Champions claim themselves to be world champions, even though the NBA is a national league. The American athlete revealed that he had said the same multiple times during interviews and maintained his stance on the topic. However, his press conference during the 2023 World Championships went viral on the internet.

During the press conference, Lyles claimed that it irks him whenever he watches the NBA finals and sees that the winners are called 'World Champions'.

"You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have 'world champion' on their head. World champion of what? The United States? Don't get me wrong, I love the U.S. at times, but that ain't the world," he said.

Noah Lyles spoke about the incident in his latest appearance on the 'Toure Show'. The American athlete revealed that he was unaware about the real reason why the video went viral since he had made similar statements in multiple interviews.

“That was, I don't know why that blew. Well, I kind of do. I had said that for years. That was not the first time I ever said that. No, I'd said that many times in many different interviews,” he said.

Furthermore, Noah Lyles expressed that it might be because he had won the gold medal in both the 100m and the 200m at 2023 World Championships due to which he had everyone's attention.

“It blew up that time because I had everyone's attention. I was the world's fastest man at the time. That's why it was important. “I had a little stank on it. But it was because of the situation that we were in. The question that was posed was, how does it feel going back to the US being a world champion? “To be honest, nothing changes. That's the psyche part,” he added.

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Noah Lyles' controversy reignites after the Paris Olympics

Noah Lyles competes in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix - Source: Getty

The controversy surrounding Noah Lyles' comments about the NBA reignited after the 200m finals at the Paris Olympics. As the American athlete finished third, he received a lot of backlash and Dolphins' wide receiver Tyreek Hill commented on the situation and challenged him to a race.

“Noah Lyles can't say nothing after what just happened to him. You know what I'm saying? Then he want to come out and pretend like he's sick. I feel like that's like horseradish. So, for him to do that and say that we're not world champions of like our sport, like come on, bro, just speak on what you know about, you know what I'm saying? And that's track. I would beat Noah Lyles," he said.

This led to an online banter between the two athletes. After going to and fro in the media for months, the two athletes agreed to compete against each other in a race.

According to reports, they will be going head to head against each other in a race in April this year.