By Rohith Nair
PARIS (Reuters) – American Noah Lyles will look to complete the sprint double at the Paris Olympics when he races in the 200 metres on Thursday after winning the 100 in the closest-ever race in Games history.
The following are five facts about the six-times world champion:
ASTHMA, DYSLEXIA AND ANXIETY? NO PROBLEM FOR LYLES
After claiming the 100m gold at the Stade de France, Lyles posted a message on social media saying he had several issues such as asthma and dyslexia but that never stopped him from becoming one of the fastest men on the planet.
“I have asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), anxiety and depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become. Why not you!” he wrote.
‘WORLD CHAMPION OF WHAT?’
Despite his rising popularity, Lyles irked several basketball pros and fans when he questioned the NBA branding the league’s winners as world champions.
“What hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’… World champion of what? The United States?” he asked incredulously at the 2023 athletics world championships in a news conference that went viral.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love the U.S., at times, but that ain’t the world.
“We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA.”
Twice NBA champion Kevin Durant did not take it well, commenting: “Somebody help this brother” while four-times winner Draymond Green said: “When being smart goes wrong.”
SPRINTER AND RAPPER
Not many athletes also have a career in music but Lyles is a rapper and has his own channel on Spotify where he goes by the name ‘Nojo18’.
The sprinter also performed at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Diamond League finals in Zurich alongside Swiss band Baba Shrimps and American pole vaulter Sandi Morris.
FAILED TO QUALIFY FOR 100M IN TOKYO
Lyles may have been crowned the fastest sprinter in the world in Paris but three years ago he did not even qualify for the Olympics 100m after finishing seventh at the U.S. trials with a time on the wrong side of 10 seconds.
He was also the favourite going into the 200m having set the fastest time of the year in the build-up to the Tokyo Games but he only managed to take the bronze behind Canada’s Andre De Grasse and fellow American Kenneth Bednarek.
MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES
That was also when he tearfully opened up about his mental health struggles and his anti-depressant medication which he said took away his energy before he stopped taking it ahead of the Games.
“I always said the day I wasn’t having fun with this sport, I’m going to leave it,” said Lyles, who admitted he had been in therapy since he was nine.
“For a little bit, I wasn’t having fun this year. I did want to leave. I had to make a decision. I was like, ‘I got to get better. I can’t let this control me’.
“I want you to know that it’s okay to not feel good, you can go out and talk with somebody professionally or even get on medication. This is a serious issue, you don’t want to wake up one day and think, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore’.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Paris; Editing by Toby Davis)
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