Noah Lyles' mouth wrote the check. On the Olympics stage, his feet cashed it (2024)

SAINT-DENIS, France — Once again, Noah Lyles didn’t get out of the blocks well. His reaction time tied for the worst in the eight-man field. Slow starts cost him in the first round, then again in the semifinals.

Such felt like a recipe for disaster with this stellar field, among the most loaded in Olympic history. Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville were putting up crazy times. American Fred Kerley was on his game. Even defending Olympic champion Lamont Marcel Jacobs of Italy was in good form.

To see Lyles in fifth place 20 meters in felt like doom.

“It just goes to show,” Lyles said, “races aren’t won with starts.”

But a poor start might’ve been fortuitous. Because even with all his braggadocio, Lyles is an ultimate competitor at his core. He might come across as arrogant and showy, a recipe usually featuring but a teaspoon of substance. But Lyles is a dawg in the toughest sense. His heart’s at least as big as his mouth.

Sunday night, in an Olympic 100-meter final for the ages, it was revealed.

Trailing world-class burners, coming off consecutive losses, Lyles had to summon his absolute best. The slow start triggered his greatest asset. Lyles’ refusal to lose turned this loaded final into a historic one.

It’s the fastest he’s ever run: 9.79 seconds. Technically it was 9.784. He’s America’s first gold medalist in the 100 meters in 20 years. After winning the World Championships in 2023 and now an Olympic championship in 2024, he is the undisputed fastest man in the world.

Thompson took silver with a 9.789. Kerley, who won silver in the Tokyo Olympics, added a bronze to his resume with a personal best time of 9.81. Five of the top six times were personal bests, a season best, or a national record. Seville ran a 9.91 and finished last. Just a ridiculous octet of sprinters.

But Lyles said the moment is never too big for him, instead made for him. They don’t get bigger than what happened Sunday inside Stade de France. On the biggest stage of his life, with the globe watching, in a venue that delivered chills, Lyles made the moment his own.

His mouth wrote the check. His feet cashed it.

“I want my own shoe,” said Lyles, a long-time Adidas endorser. “I want my own trainer. … I want a sneaker. Ain’t no money in spikes. The money’s in sneakers.”

Lyles’ braggadocio isn’t empty. His calculated theatrics and thirst for attention might make him seem a bit less reverential. His arrogance prompts some to root against him.

But you don’t do what he’s done unless you’ve got heart.

Phase one of Lyles’ grand plan for immortality is complete. With the 100 meters in the bag, he now embarks on the 200 meters Monday.

Carl Lewis was the last American to do what Lyles is attempting: win gold in the 100 and 200 meters in the same Olympics. Lewis did it in 1984 in Los Angeles. Michael Johnson was the last American to pull off a sprint double. He won the 200 and 400 meters in 1996 in Atlanta.

The hardest part for Lyles was winning the gold in the 100 meters. The 200 is his main event. He’s the best in the world at it, and has been for this entire Olympic cycle.

“Pretty confident. I can’t lie,” Lyles said. “Kenny put up a fast time at trials. That definitely woke me up. I was very proud of him. He is definitely not going to take how he did here in the 100 lying down. He’s gonna say, ‘I’m going after it in the 200.’ My job is to make sure that …”

Lyles paused. Then he flashed his smile.

“I’ll just leave it there.”

Kerley, who’d been mostly quiet the whole press conference, clearly there out of bronze obligation, perked up and chimed in.

“Talk that s—,” Kerley said to Lyles.

“That man ain’t winning,” Lyles obliged. “None of them are winning. When I come off the turn, they will be depressed.”

What always takes precedence in the realm of banter is backing it up. Hubris is easier to swallow when justified.

The best chance to shut Lyles up was in the 100. Lyles finished seventh in the 100-meter final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials, failing to qualify for the Tokyo Games in the 100.

SEVENTH.

He and coach Lance Brauman went to work, turning him into an elite short-range sprinter.

NOAH LYLES IS THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE 🇺🇸

By four thousands of a second, Lyles eked by Kishane Thompson to win the gold by a whisker.

He is the first American man in 20 years to win the event.

🎥 @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/sKMer9mPOh

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 4, 2024

That’s the overlooked part of all this. What Lyles has done to become a world-class sprinter in the premier discipline is a testament to his immense talent and drive. He went into a new realm, which had its great talents, and decided to take them on.

He did so loudly, with a certitude that slighted the incumbents. Three years later, he sits alone on the throne vacated by Usain Bolt. He spoke about wanting to do it. He predicted he would do it. Then he did it. The D.C. area kid pulled a Marlo and took over another turf.

That’s why when he was walking through the mixed zone and saw Brauman, Lyles started jumping and yelling. He had one more run in him this night, through the maze of ropes, around a barrier and into the space crowded with media. So he could celebrate with the coach who helped him pull this off.

The Netflix cameras capturing it all for Season 2 of the docuseries “Sprint.”

At first, Lyles thought he didn’t win. It sure looked as if Thompson beat him. Lyles said he was ready to swallow his pride and eat the loss to a worthy opponent.

Immediately after the race, which was so close it needed technology to determine, Lyles went to Thompson and told him, “I think you got this one big dog.”

In his first two races of this Olympics, Lyles couldn’t recover from slow starts. In the first heat of the 100 meters Saturday, he got behind and couldn’t catch Great Britain’s Louie Hinchliffe. He said he underestimated the field, which he wouldn’t do again.

Saturday, in the semifinals, he shared a heat with Seville. This wasn’t just any heat. Those two have history.

Oblique Seville might sound like an old-school Cadillac, but ain’t nothing slow about him. And after finishing fourth against Lyles in the 2023 World Championships, the 23-year-old Jamaican has continued getting better.

He beat Lyles back in June at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica. Not only did Seville run a 9.82, but he shot Lyles a look in the process.

Lyles, of course, responded on X: “I’ll remember this. See you in Paris.”

Sunday, they lined up next to each other in a semifinal heat.

Seville got a much better start and looked to be comfortably ahead. But Lyles — after his hiccup in the first round and because of his rivalry with the Jamaicans — recovered much better. This time, Lyles chased down the leader. He looked ready for a battle.

He ran a 9.83 despite a slow start. Still, he didn’t overtake Seville, who ran a personal-best 9.81.

So when Lyles did it a third time, getting out of the blocks slow, the packed crowd had every reason to believe he’d lose. Some 20 meters in, he was no better than fifth.

But Lyles has been talking a lot about transcending the sport, elevating track to a new level. He’s talked about wanting more spirited competition with his cohorts. More trash talking. More races. More of the best facing off. This, essentially, is what he wanted.

He’d have to fight for this one. So Lyles hit another gear. The gear the great ones have. He made this race not about technique. Or the purest form. Or the most talent. It was about will. It was about the time-honored tradition of foot race being the measure of a man.

He caught the leaders. They pushed him. He pushed them. In the end was a finish, a moment, that will be remembered for generations.

When the results were in, even Lyles was stunned.

“Everybody in the field came out knowing that they could win this race. I didn’t do this against a slow field. I did this against the best of the best, on the biggest stage, with the biggest pressure. And seeing my name was like, ‘Oh my gosh! There it is!”

The difference proved to be a perfectly timed lean by Lyles. By .005 seconds, his chest crossed the line before Thompson. Lyles won because of his heart.

Required reading

• Noah Lyles is talking the talk ahead of the Olympics, now it’s time to do the rest
• Noah Lyles learns lesson in Olympics 100m heats: ‘These boys are coming to play’

(Photo: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images)

Marcus Thompson II is a lead columnist at The Athletic. He is a prominent voice in the Bay Area sports scene after 18 years with Bay Area News Group, including 10 seasons covering the Warriors and four as a columnist. Marcus is also the author of the best-selling biography "GOLDEN: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry." Follow Marcus on Twitter @thompsonscribe