Noah Lyles missed out on the double championship he was aiming for, but even in pain he ran for bronze. Letsile Tebogo from Botswana took the 200m Olympic gold.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
American sprinter Noah Lyles says that the coronavirus took away his best performance in Thursday night’s 200-meter Olympic final.
Even on Sunday, Lyles was the top bet when he won Olympic gold in the 100 meters with his record of 9.79. Lyles says that he has since suffered from a sore throat, chills and muscle aches, and that he was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Tuesday morning.
Watch the 200m final in the video above.
Despite his symptoms and diagnosis, he did not consider skipping his main distance of 200 meters. The double championship that Lyles was aiming for was, however, exhausted when he finished third in the 200 meter final race with a result of 19.70.
Kisan won the African record 19.46, beating Botswana Letsile Tebogowhom Lyles went to congratulate right at the finish line. The tired American was then left lying on the surface of the track and was wheeled off the field in a wheelchair.
Lyles said he has not yet decided whether he will run for the U.S. team in the 4×100-meter relay final on Friday. Later, he seemed to lean in the direction of skipping the relay.
– I believe that this is the end of my Olympics. Not quite the Olympics I had dreamed of, but they left a lot of joy in my heart, Lyles wrote on the photo service Instagram.
Watch the 100m final in the video below:
Tebogo’s gold medal was Botswana’s first at the Olympics. The Botswanan’s time was the fifth fastest ever in the 200m.
The Olympic record for the distance (19.30 Beijing 2008) and the world record (19.19 WC-Berlin 2009) are Usain Bolt’s on behalf of.