Noah Lyles' message to NBA stars who went to watch his 100m race at the Paris Olympics

Noah Lyles' message to NBA stars who went to watch his 100m race at the Paris Olympics

Abigael Wafula 18:00 - 15.08.2024

Noah Lyles has a message for the NBA stars who went to the Stade de France to watch him compete in the men's 100m final.

Noah Lyles has reacted to the NBA stars who clapped back at him and were at the Stade de France to watch him compete in the men’s 100m where he emerged champion.

Lyles won the race in a time of 9.79 ahead of Kishane Thompson who finished milliseconds later behind him, clocking 9.79. Fred Kerley completed the podium in a time of 9.81 seconds.

The American Sprint King noted that he has never had any relationship with any of the players and noted that he was very happy to have them go and watch him.

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“I didn't have a relationship with them then, and I guess I don't have one now. They talk about me more than I talk about them,” Lyles said in an interview with BuzzFeed.

“I'm very happy that they came to watch because I made a tweet or a post a while ago, and I was addressing people who love me and hate me, and I said, "No matter what, you still watched, didn't you?" That's the funny part, because you know, no matter how people see you, they're still going to watch whether they're there to watch you fail or watch you succeed,” he added.

Lyles added that his statements about the NBA were taken out of context. At the 2023 World Championships, Lyles was irked by the idea of the NBA referring to themselves at the World Championships.

“You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong, I love the U.S. but that ain’t the world,” Lyles said.

“We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA.”

He explained that his statements were not targeting just the NBA but all other sports where people refer to themselves as world championships but in the real sense are not.

The three-time world 200m champion explained that the U.S. has many rightful athletes who are supposed to be referred to as world and Olympic champions but are never given enough credit for that.

“I feel that it took on a life of itself. The NBA was just an example. The point got lost in translation along the way. The point was supposed to be that the US has so many people with the title of World Champion or Olympic Champion, and we seem to give it to others who don't actually have the title,” Lyles said.

“Why do that? They're already great! They are already dignified in that, let's celebrate the other sports out there who have taken on the world and are coming back and saying, ‘Hey, we did this for you.’ We want to be celebrated just as much.”