Noah Lyles gets on my nerves.”
“Why US Olympics trying to make him a thing?”
“Bro is up past midnight having nightmares about the Jamaicans…”
Doubts from your own countrymen can be difficult to hear, especially right before the Olympics. And that’s what Noah Lyles is facing right now.
Caught in the eye of a Twitter storm lately, his docuseries on Netflix, SPRINT received mixed reactions from the community. One of the reasons is his ‘unlikeable’ attitude in the show. Appearing in a Track World News YouTube podcast on July 15, Lyles expressed his disbelief and sorrow as the reaction from his countrymen was so unreal. He remarked, “I was more shocked of, I don’t know…the toxicity from the U.S. on their own people!”
Citing an example, Noah Lyles shared how he once observed on X that Rai Benjamin’s post about SPRINT led to someone responding, “Man, shut up, you weak!” Lyles expressed how it was definitely a U.S. account, and that shocked him. He questioned, “Do you all want them to succeed or not want them to succeed?”
In contrast, he felt the Jamaican fans were ride-or-die people who supported their athletes no matter what!
But coming back to Lyles, he has been facing criticism on various fronts. After being heavily focused on SPRINT, the athlete had previously garnered a lot of fiery reactions. Even American athlete Fred Kerley called the show a ‘YouTube doc.’ “That show is not about sprinting.”
Not everything is about the documentary, though. Throw in the USA-Jamaican rivalry, and you’ll see Lyles garner more criticism. Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson’s lead also led to social media lashing out at Lyles. His recent 9.77s spectacle at the trials was faster than Lyles’ personal best of 9.83, which raises hopes in his nation for Olympic gold after Usain Bolt.
As for Lyles, the expectations are equally high. America awaits its Olympic gold in 100m after Justin Gatlin (2004) and in 200m after Shawn Crawford (2004). Lyles expects the USA-Jamaican rivalry to be a hot one. But he understands that a rivalry is just a rivalry!
