"This stuff has happened"- Noah Lyles gives an honest opinion post-Olympics gold medal depression

American track athlete Noah Lyles has shared his take on the post-Olympics depression. This comes just a few weeks after his first races of the season in Gainesville and Boston, his first since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he won the 100m gold medal.

Lyles battled with depression for a period around the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when he also had to take medication to deal with it. He has been quite vocal about his then-situation and recently gave his opinions about the mental battles athletes face after successes at the quadrennial games.

In a recent episode of the Ready Set Go podcast, Lyles stated that even though the masses don't talk about the post-Olympics depression, it is a real and serious issue to address. He also added that he has spoken with a young athlete after the 2024 Paris Olympics who has been going through this issue. He said (via Ready Set Go, 6:00 onwards):

"You said something that I felt we haven't talked about on this podcast yet. You said Olympic blues and to a lot of people, they might not understand what that is but you know postpartum Olympics, gold medal depression, this stuff is real and this stuff has happened. I had talked to an athlete after the Olympics who got their medal very young and they were kind of getting into that."

Several prominent Olympians, such as Michael Phelps, have been highly critical about this issue.

Noah Lyles shares his thoughts about dealing with pressure while racing

Noah Lyles celebrates with the trophy after winning the 200m race at the 2019 Diamond League in Brussels (Image via: Getty Images)

Noah Lyles shed light on dealing with pressure for track and field athletes. Lyles said that facing pressure on the track is related to the preparations before the race, and the athletes feel more pressured because of their lack of preparation.

He also mentioned that the results would favor the athletes if they had done their preparations right. Lyles said (DCP Entertainment, 33:55 onwards):

"Dealing with pressure comes with preparing. I think a lot of people get stuck on pressure because they feel like they're not prepared. When you get on the line and you have to think, I have to do this, you're going to psych yourself out. If you've done right before you got there, it's going to happen."

During the conversation, Noah Lyles also remarked that pre-visualization of a race before going into it is one of his major tools to prepare better for a race.