Noah Lyles has taken the mantle from Usain Bolt as the most electric and magnetic male sprinter in the world. Yet, proclaiming him as the best of this current generation has to be proven by deeds and not just words. It begins this Saturday with the preliminary rounds of the men’s 100-meters and the finals taking place on Sunday.
Bolt, from Jamaica, is the greatest men’s sprinter of all time. An eight-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the 100 meters (9.58), 200 meters (19.19), and 4 x100 meters relay (45.28), he won gold medals in four straight Olympics from 2008 to 2016.
Lyles took home gold after winning the 100 m and 200 m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August. During the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics last weekend, he went viral on social media when he was recorded asserting, “Everyone knows that the title goes to the Olympic champion and world champion, which I am one of. And soon to be another one of.”
Some inferred that Lyles was claiming to be the historical best. On Sunday, the 27-year-old from Gainesville, Fla., clarified his comments on his YouTube account: “I won the men’s 100 m at the 2023 World Championships, and Sha’Carri [Richardson] won the women’s. We do not intend to disrespect or discredit past records or times set in the new season.”
If Lyles does earn the crown in both events in Paris, he’ll be just the 10th man at the Olympics to do so, joining, among others, African-American legends Eddie Tolan (1932), Jesse Owens (1936), Carl Lewis (1984), and Bolt, who achieved the remarkable distinction three times (2008, 2012, 2016).
NBA superstar Kevin Durant, who is endeavoring to win a record fourth men’s Olympic gold as a member of the USA men’s basketball team, indirectly compartmentalized Lyles’s argument at last year’s track and field World Championships that the winner of the NBA title is only the nominal global champion because they don’t compete for the honor against squads representing multiple overseas leagues.
“World champion of what?” Lyles caustically asked the assembled media in Hungry 12 months ago. “The United States?”
Earlier this week, in an interview with ESPN’s Andscape writer Marc J. Spears, Durant encapsulated the divergent experiences of athletes competing for NBA teams and their country at the Olympics. “You don’t compare them. It’s two different things,” he said. “It’s two different mountains you got to climb…so obviously, in our world, the NBA championship is more respected, but in some parts of the world, the Olympic level is more respected.”
Lyles will increase his standing in the pantheon of all-time great athletes with victories in the 100 m and 200 m, and capping it with a third gold in the men’s 4x 100. There’s much work ahead. Lyles should be up for the challenge.