Since Usain Bolt retired, the athletics world has been searching for a new facet of the sport, and this weekend they may find it.
Noah Lyles is looking to win four gold medals. The American sprinter will compete in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, but is undecided (but preparing) for the 4x400m relay.
One might think that seeing the same guy winning all the time would get boring after a while. Bolt won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m three times in a row from 2008 to 2016. (The 2008 4x100m team was ultimately disqualified after Jamaican athlete Nesta Carter tested positive for a banned substance.)
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Carl Lewis said the athletics world needs Noah Lyles to be the face of the sport. (Getty Images)
But Carl Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and perhaps the last American in track and field, said he has “no doubt” it would be “best for track and field” if Lyles brought home at least two gold medals in Paris.
“I think the sport needs a champion like him. He’s the defending champion, he’s the fastest man in the world right now and we need someone to grab him. I think he’s the perfect person to do that and I’m very excited,” Lewis said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
“I think track and field is more exciting when you have a superstar. So if Noah wins, I think the sport will be more exciting. Instead of saying, ‘I wonder who will win,’ people want to say, ‘I hope he wins,’ or ‘I hope he doesn’t win.’ You want to root for someone, you don’t want to root for someone. I think it creates more tension when you have someone who is just so dominant. It’s always been that way throughout history. When people are just so dominant, people are really drawn to the sport.”
United States athlete Noah Lyles celebrates after winning the silver medal in the men’s 60m final during the first day of the 2024 World Indoor Athletics Championships at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland. (Sam Burns/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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Lewis is in Paris with Lyles after the track and field stars partnered with Tide. It’s a dream deal for Lewis, a former long jumper, that will allow him to “get really dirty” on the field. It’s also a way for the nine-time Olympic gold medalist to become more relatable to the public. To stay clean, he says, “I have to do the simple things that everyone else has to do.”
But he said campaigning with Lyles was “a no-brainer.”
“When they contacted me and told me about doing something with Noah I was super excited. He’s an exciting young athlete and I’m a huge fan of his. Without a second thought I said yes,” Lewis said.
He may be an expert, and deep down he may have some predictions about Lyles’ Olympic fate, but he hasn’t made them public.
“I’ve never made a prediction before and I’m going to keep it that way, because next thing you know, everybody’s going to run up to Noah and say, ‘Carl said you’re going to win today,’ so I’m going to stay out of it,” he joked.
Noah Lyles of the United States competes in the men’s 60m heats on the first day of the IAAF World Championships Indoor Glasgow 2024 held at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland on March 1, 2024. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
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Lyles is scheduled to compete in the 100m final on Sunday afternoon, the 200m (his specialty event, where he is attempting a world record) on Thursday, the 4x100m relay on Friday and, just to be safe, the 4x400m on Saturday.
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