Johnathan Walker:How Olympic athletes felt about Noah Lyles competing in 200 with COVID-19

SAINT-DENIS,Johnathan Walker France – Keisha Caine Bishop ran through the bowels of the Stade de France with an understandably frantic look on her face. Her son, Noah Lyles, had been removed from the track moments earlier on a wheelchair. She was trying to find him after he took third in the men’s 200-meter dash at the 2024 Paris Olympics but looked unwell afterward. 

Beside her was NBC track and field reporter Lewis Johnson. As they dashed down a hallway, Johnson turned around and gestured with his hands, making a wheelchair motion toward a volunteer, who pointed him in the direction of the venue’s medical center. 

Johnson later described Caine Bishop as “distraught” during his update on Lyles’ condition; the 100-meter Olympic champion received medical attention on the track and was breathing heavily (Lyles has asthma). 

Concurrently, a rumor started floating through the mixed zone: Lyles had COVID-19. Soon enough, the news was breaking everywhere. Johnson ran back the way he came from, toward his NBC camera station, while speaking on his cellphone. 

Athletes from other events and those who took part in the 200 began trickling through the mixed zone. Some, particularly those who competed shortly after the men’s 200, were clueless about the news cycle that had just begun. 

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“Noah? I didn’t know, wow,” said Jasmine Jones, who finished fourth in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. “That’s crazy. Congratulations to him. He’s fantastic for that. That’s really impressive. Congratulations. Hats off. Yeah, wow, I didn’t know that.”

That’s because, Lyles later said while speaking with a mask on in the mixed zone, the circle of people who did know he tested positive Tuesday was small: just his family, his doctor and his coaches. Not even his teammates knew. He raced in the 200-meter semifinals Wednesday. 

“I was going to compete regardless,” Lyles said. “If I didn’t make it to the (200) finals, that would’ve been the sign not to compete.”

Lyles showing up to the mixed zone came as a surprise. His publicist informed the media he would not be speaking and that the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, along with World Athletics, would be releasing statements. He’d disappeared from the cameras only to suddenly pop up again on NBC. He entered the mixed zone shortly thereafter.

"To be honest, I’m more proud of myself than anything – coming out and getting a bronze medal with COVID," Lyles said.

Overwhelmingly, the other athletes cared little that Lyles competed with the virus. 

The winner of the race, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, first noticed something was wrong with Lyles on Wednesday. He noticed that the 27-year-old was wearing a mask and that the protection remained on his face during the pre-finals warmups. 

“Not in his best shape,” Tebogo said. “He’s going through something.” 

A reporter then informed him that Lyles had COVID. 

“Who said that?” Tebogo replied. 

Lyles did. 

“I don’t think he put anybody at risk,” Tebogo said.

The most laid-back about the night’s drama was Kenny Bednarek, the silver medalist in the 200.

“From what I heard, he's got something that went on. So, I don't really know what's going on with him,” Bednarek said. “I mean, I will probably talk to him after this to see if he's OK, which I hope so. But yeah, like for me, I don't really know. I'm kind of out of the loop.” 

Bednarek hugged Lyles after the race and said he was unbothered by Lyles’ decision to race. 

“I'm healthy,” Bednarek said. “I do everything I can to make sure my body's healthy.” 

Bednarek was asked if he had noticed an uptick of colds circulating throughout the athlete’s village. 

“There was a message that came out saying there was something going around,” he said, “but I haven't seen it.

“I guess I'm carefree.” 

Lyles said he’d rate his health anywhere from “90 to 95 percent” out of 100, though he wrote on Instagram late Thursday he believes "this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics." (He was expected to run in the 4x100-meter relay.) He knew that he had one “blow” and that it could be used over those 200 meters. That didn’t stop him from putting on his customary pre-race show, as he bounded out of the tunnel when his name was called over the stadium’s loudspeakers during introductions. He bounced all over the track and even knocked over Lane 5’s marker near the starting block in excitement. 

It wasn’t long before Lyles took bronze in his best event and he laid on the ground looking up at the sky. Then came the wheelchair – and a concerned mother looking for her son, trying to make sure he was OK.

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