Noah Lyles revealed he had Covid after collecting Olympic 200 metres bronze on Thursday night.
The Olympic 100 metres champion was beaten by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who ran 19.46 sec while behind him was Kenny Bednarek, who ran 19.62, while Lyles could finish only third in 19.70.
“I do have Covid. I tested positive around 5am on Tuesday morning. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling real chills, aching, sore throat, and those were a lot of the symptoms I’ve had right before getting Covid,” Lyles said.
“We tested it, came back positive and we quickly quarantined in a hotel nearby the [Olympic] Village. Tried to get me on as much medication as we legally could to make sure my body could keep the momentum going. I still wanted to run, it was still possible, we just stayed away from everybody. I knew that if I wanted to come out here and win, I had to give everything I have from the get-go. I didn’t have any time to save energy. That was the strategy.”
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Speaking about how he felt, he said: “I’ve had better days, but I’m walking around again. I was quite light-headed after that race. Shortness of breath, chest pain, but after a while I could catch my breath and get my wits about me. I’m a lot better now.”
“[Covid-19] definitely affected my performance. I’ve had to take a lot of breaks ... I was coughing through the night. I’m more proud of myself than anything, coming out here to get a bronze with Covid.
“We were trying to keep this close to the chest. The people who knew were the medical staff, coach, my mum. We didn’t want everybody going into a panic, we wanted them to be able to compete. We wanted to make this as free as possible. I’m competitive. Why would you give them an edge over you?
“I was going to compete. If I didn’t make it to the final, that would’ve been the sign not to compete.”
