USA’s Noah Lyles: manga geek, alpha male and very, very fast | Paris Olympic Games 2024

Before he took his mark for the opening 100m heat at the US Olympic trials in June, Noah Lyles made sure to seize his moment on television. Instead of engaging in typical displays of bravado, such as pounding his chest or pointing skyward, the American sprinter opted for a delightfully nerdy gesture: he revealed a Blue-Eyes White Dragon Yu-Gi-Oh! card.

For those unfamiliar: Yu-Gi-Oh! is a manga series that debuted at the dawn of the 21st century and spawned a popular trading card game, much like Pokémon. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon card symbolizes almost unbeatable strength, making it highly sought after among collectors. By showcasing his prized card so early in the trials, Lyles not only influenced the Yu-Gi-Oh! card market; he declared to gamers everywhere: I’m one of you.

“My Yu-Gi-Oh loving kid went wild when he spotted this and recognized the card Lyles showcased!” commented one user on X. Another added: “Dude’s hella corny, but Blue-Eyes White Dragon earns automatic respect.”

The 27-year-old from Florida has a talent for grabbing attention. In Netflix’s track and field docuseries Sprint, Lyles likens himself to a creative director, equally recognized for his dramatic entrances as he is for his Lewis Hamilton-style strolls to the track. In addition, Lyles has risen as a generational sprinter, giving the US a chance to reclaim the track glory that faded during Usain Bolt’s era, Lyles’s idol. Echoes of Bolt can be seen in Lyles, a six-time world champion who concluded his US Olympic trials with a personal best in the 100m and broke Michael Johnson’s long-standing American record in the 200m.

Lyles has set his sights on leaving Paris with Bolt’s enduring world records in the 100m and 200m. He is also aiming for four golds from the Games – in the 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. During a June appearance on the Tonight Show, Lyles expressed his determination to surpass Bolt. “It’s not just about being faster; you need the medals to back it up,” he said. “He’s got three [gold medals at one Olympics], and he holds the world records … to be better than that, you have to get four. No one has ever done four.”

The more Lyles asserts himself, the more veteran track fans caution him, take it easy; that’s too much pressure. There’s no doubt Lyles – who comes from a lineage of accomplished collegiate athletes, and whose younger brother, Josephus, is also an elite sprinter – has the potential to become a track legend. However, the hype seems to have nudged Lyles into the role of yet another stereotypically arrogant American. In another clip from Netflix’s Sprinter, Lyles claims that achieving athletic success demands “the mindset of a god.”

In an interview after sweeping three events at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, which coincided with the Denver Nuggets winning their first NBA championship, Lyles reacted strongly to the idea of any basketball player perceiving him, a newly crowned treble gold medalist, as a peer. “World champion of what?” he scoffed in reference to the NBA titleholders. “The United States?” NBA stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker were quick to counter on social media, while some commentators like sports journalist Gary Al-Smith defended Lyles’s remarks as an insight into American exceptionalism – an irony that clearly eluded the sprinter.

However, for devoted track enthusiasts who appreciate Lyles’s talent, his most significant faux pas is his insistence on calling himself the world’s fastest man. This declaration comes despite Usain Bolt still being active and Kishane Thompson, a 23-year-old Jamaican, achieving the fastest 100m time in two years during the Jamaican Olympic trials in June. “My coach told me just to run the first 60, nothing more,” Thompson remarked after his run. For someone who is not typically associated with card games, Thompson maintains a remarkably poker face. “[Thompson] hasn’t revealed his full potential yet,” 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin expressed on a podcast, “and that’s terrifying to me.”

Nevertheless, Lyles largely dismisses Thompson’s rising star. “I beat everyone I come against,” he asserted after the Jamaican clocked a world-leading time, four one-hundredths faster than Lyles’s. The building tensions have intensified the rivalry between US and Jamaican sprinters to an unprecedented level – with Lyles adding fuel to the fire by implying that his Jamaican girlfriend, Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Junelle Bromfield, supplied him with insights on Thompson’s training regimen. The more Lyles ramps up the pressure, the heavier it seems to weigh on him.

After earning bronze in the 200m at the Tokyo Games, Lyles opened up about his ongoing struggles with anxiety and depression. He mentioned that the medication he relies on for mental health management leads to weight gain, which hinders his speed, necessitating him to forgo his meds before significant competitions. Reflecting on his experiences on the starting blocks in Tokyo, Lyles recounted telling himself “it’s showtime” to boost his energy, all the while thinking, “this is not cool, this is not fun.” When Josephus, his brother, failed to qualify for the Olympics that same year, Noah found himself in tears.

This challenging period led Lyles to engage a sports therapist, an “everyday” therapist, and a third counselor specializing in grief. (After losing her mother to cervical cancer in 2021, Bromfield contemplated leaving track.) While Lyles credited the therapeutic process with helping him quiet his inner critic and secure a silver medal in the 60m at the 2024 world indoor championships, he now faces new hurdles in Paris, where his unexpected popularity in the Olympic Village has taken him by surprise. “Though we might seem like superstars to you, we are still human beings, and we wish to have our own space and time,” he conveyed to reporters earlier this week. “I’d like to enjoy the Olympics just like everyone else does.”

Many elite athletes navigate the delicate balance between feeling invincible and acknowledging their humanity – and it is often the most resilient who are willing to embrace their vulnerabilities. As Lyles transitions from unwavering confidence to introspective reflection, he reminds us all that the true reward in every hero’s journey is self-discovery.