Reuters
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Athletics – Men’s 200m – Final – Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan – August 4, 2021. Noah Lyles of the United States celebrates with his national flag after winning bronze REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
Reuters
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Athletics – Men’s 200m – Final – Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan – August 4, 2021. Noah Lyles of the United States celebrates with his national flag after winning bronze REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
Olympians have been contesting for the medals in the athletic sport at Tokyo Olympics 2020. In track races, athletes perform stunningly, running against the time to win.
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Interestingly, the USA’s Noah Lyles has compared chasing a medal to catching a legendary Pokemon. Noah won the bronze medal in the men’s 400m race at the mega-quadrennial event. While Canada’s Andre De Grasse won the gold and another American in the fray, Kenny Bednarek secured the silver medal.
Team USA’s racing star Noah Lyles
Entering Tokyo Olympics, Noah was the reigning world champion and the favorite to win the race. But Lyles ended the race at the third position behind his own teammate.
USA’s decorated athlete Noah, who certainly wanted to win gold, called the match ” boring,” after clinching bronze. Further expressing about his match, Lyles took it to social media. He posted saying ” not going to lie getting an Olympic medal feels like catching a legendary Pokemon. “
Not going to lie getting an Olympic medal feels like catching a legendary Pokémon
— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) August 5, 2021
Just like Pokemon, Noah also has good endurance and perseverance in running. However, in Tokyo, Canada’s Andre De Grasse was able to catch the pokemon, i.e. time faster than Noah at 19.62, while Lyles finished with 19.74.
Noah missed his brother at Tokyo Olympics 2020
In the post-match interview, Noah broke down talking about his brother, who also aimed at the Olympics. Lyles’s brother Josephus, in 2012, had a dream of reaching the mega games and Noah just tagged along with him.
But fate did not work in Josephus’s favor at the Olympics trials who had faced injuries recently and couldn’t win. Notably, in 2017, Josephus had claimed he runs because of Noah. The relationship of the two brothers is beautiful, and that’s why post-match win Noah couldn’t hold on to his tears.
Reuters
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Athletics – Men’s 200m – Semifinal – Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan – August 3, 2021. Noah Lyles of the United States after competing in Semifinal 2 REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
Noah’s journey to Tokyo Olympics has been a roller coaster ride. The absence of his brother is not the only hurdle he had to face, as he had been suffering from depression.
Noah also faced high expectations of being the successor to Usain Bolt because of his incredible past performances. Hence, winning bronze after so many hardships is like catching real-life pokemon for the Olympic medalist.
