100m champ Noah Lyles reveals wild 2am request from girlfriend after win
Noah Lyles was the most famous man in the sports world after winning the 100m final at the Olympics, but he came crashing back to earth.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The fastest man on the planet was wandering the streets of Paris at 2am. Noah Lyles was doing the right thing. Being a good boyfriend.
No time for celebrating - his partner, Jamaican 400m runner Junelle Bromfield - had left her running spikes at the massage therapist and she asked Lyles to pick them up and bring them back to the village.
So, having peed in a bottle for drug testers and conducted a few thousand media interviews, Lyles made his way to an Airbnb near the athletes village and did his duty.
“So our Airbnb where our massage therapist is literally right next to the village,” Lyles said.
“She forgot them on our last trip. She called me while I was heading to the village to say hey, can you pick up my spike bag and all that?
“I’m like, yeah, I got you. So here I am at 2am waddling with a spike bag, my bag and some toiletries. I’m like here I am, Olympic champion of the 100m and I am waddling in my girlfriend’s room with all the stuff.
“I’m a good boyfriend.”
Not to mention a handy sprinter too, good enough to take the most coveted title in sports. He goes good in the 200m as well and the double is on if his performance in the heats is any indication - he strolled to victory Tuesday morning (AEST) as he secured a place in the semi-finals.
First though, back to the big night and how he celebrated. Or didn’t.
“No celebrating - I peed in a cup, did media, got massaged,” Lyles said.
“I watched a few videos. I watched some people playing video games.”
He also watched a replay of his crowning moment. Not once either. He watched it after the race, he watched it when he got up in the morning and he watched it a few times before his 200m.
“Yeah, yeah, I watched it last night and I’ve watched it this morning,” he said.
“I’ve watched it quite a few times throughout the day. Yeah, when I first saw it, I was like, oh, I really was in last place (out of the blocks).
“But you know, I saw the data before I saw the race. I looked at the data and I’m like this looks just like some of my greatest races.
“So it wasn’t that I was struggling to get out there - everybody else stepped up When I looked at the 60m … I’m doing everything right.”
He did plenty right in the 200m as well. Lyles (20.19s) never looked troubled as he qualified in sixth place for the semi-finals - American teammates Kenneth Bednarek (19.96s) and Erryon Knighton (19., 99s) were the fastest out of the heats.
“I was pretty jacked up,” Lyles said.
“I was kind of getting the legs moving and stuff like that. Me and my coach knew that we were going to come in and it was going to be a race where we’re really just going to have to play it by ear.
“When he said top two, in my head I said one. In my head, I’m like win the first 120m, win the 150m, and then from there check the surroundings, make adjustments.
“That race I’d say got out a lot of the gunk in the body, adhesions, sore tenderness, all that stuff. So it was very needed, but I could have dealt with a day before we started racing.”
At some point Lyles will celebrate. At the moment, he has business to take care of but he wants to do the right thing by Bromfield and that means a decent holiday once the Olympics are over.
He has some plans in place.
“I have got a pretty big plan,” Lyles said.
“That’s a pretty big plans for celebrations. I’m trying to give her a little more time last year. Last year, we got on a Noah Lyles campaign and unfortunately that cut into a lot of our vacation time.
“So I’m trying to be a better boyfriend and give her a lot more time for us to be a couple.”
Originally published as 100m champ Noah Lyles reveals wild 2am request from girlfriend after win
‘Never had’: Bruce loses it over Gout Gout
Legendary broadcaster Bruce McAvaney has seen it all in Australian sports but our latest rising athletics star is a different beast.
‘World at his feet’: Australia’s never seen anything like Gout Gout
Bruce McAvaney has seen so much in Australian track and field throughout his broadcasting career, but nothing compares to what teen sprinting sensation Gout Gout is doing at his age.