Noah Lyles announces he won't continue competing in 2024 Paris Olympics after COVID diagnosis

On Thursday, Noah Lyles revealed he had COVID-19 after securing a bronze medal in the men’s 200-meter final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Only hours later, the American sprinter announced his status for the remaining days of the Olympic Games.

“First I want to thank God for getting me through this entire Olympics!” Lyles wrote. “Second I want to congratulate Letsile Tebogo, Kenny Bednarek and everyone else on an amazing Olympic 200m final. Finally I want to thank everyone for the supportive messages.

“I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics. It is not the Olympic I dreamed of but it has left me with so much Joy in my heart. I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Whether you were rooting for me
or against me, you have to admit you watched, didn’t you?”

Lyles was initially expected to also run in the men’s 4x100m relay. The race is scheduled for Friday. The United States has not yet named who will replace Lyles in the highly-anticipated event. Lyles’ absence will be a massive loss for the US.

On Sunday, Lyles took home the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter dash. Lyles posted a 9.79-second time in the event — five-thousandths of a second faster than Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who finished second in the event.

Lyles is the first American to win gold in the 100m race since Justin Gatlin in 2004. Lyles entered the 2024 Paris Olympics as the favorite in the event after winning the 2023 World Championship. However, following a subpar lead-up to the final, the narrative began to shift.

Lyles blocked out the noise and delivered a single message after his victory to all the viewers back home, cheering him on: “America, I told you. I got this.”

More on Noah Lyles’ COVID diagnosis

Noah Lyles reportedly was not suffering COVID symptoms when he won the 100m dash on Sunday. In an interview with NBC’s Lewis Johnson, Lyles reflected on when he began to experience COVID-like symptoms.

“Yeah, I woke up early, about 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning and I was feeling really horrible then,” Lyles said. “I knew it was more than just being sore from the 100. We woke up the doctors and we tested and unfortunately it came up that I was positive for COVID.

“My first thought was not to panic. I was thinking I’ve been in worse situations, I’ve run with worse conditions I felt and we just took it day by day, tried to hydrate as much, quarantined off. I’d definitely say that it’s taken its toll for sure, but I’ve never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and getting a bronze medal where last Olympics I was very disappointed, and this time I couldn’t be more proud.”