2024 Olympics 100m champion Noah Lyles has announced the end of his campaign at the multi-sport event in Paris following the 200m final on Thursday night.
Lyles was in action but had to settle for Bronze as Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo won the highly anticipated race in 19.46 seconds with American Kenny Bednarek picking Silver after finishing second in 19.62s.
It later emerged that Bronze medalist Lyles, who was tipped to win his favourite distance, had suffered from Covid-19 a couple of days before the event.
He was, therefore, carried in a wheelchair out of the Stade de France after Thursday’s final.
In a post on his official Instagram page a few minutes later, the 200m world champion announced: “First I want to thank God for getting me through this entire Olympics! Second I want to congratulate [Letsile Tebogo], [Kenny Bednarek] and everyone else on an amazing Olympic 200m final.
“Finally, I want to thank everyone for the supportive messages. I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics.
“It is not the Olympic I dreamed of but it has left me with so much joy in my heart. I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Whether you were rooting for me or against me, you have to admit you watched, didn’t you?
“See you next time.”
The next Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028 but Lyle is expected to bounce back for the worlds in Tokyo next year.
By the statement, he will not be part of USA’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
