American sprinter Noah Lyles has confirmed he is all but certain to skip the Olympic relays, having contracted Covid-19 before missing out on a historic sprint double in Paris.
Lyles was hoping to become the first man since Usain Bolt at Rio 2016 to achieve an Olympic sprint double, having won the 100m final on Saturday, but after collecting 200 metres bronze on Thursday revealed he had tested positive on Tuesday morning.
The American had the slowest reaction time of the pack in the 200m finale, where Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won gold and Kenny Bednarek claimed silver, with Lyles tended to by medics on the track before being placed in a wheelchair.
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Lyles was determined to participate in Friday night's 4x100 metres relay final and was also campaigning for a place on the men's 4x400 metres team in order to achieve something Bolt had never done - winning four gold medals in a single Games - although he has since indicated that his Olympics are over.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Lyles posted on Instagram: "First I want to thank God for getting me through this entire Olympics! Second I want to congratulate @tebogo--letsile-- , @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 Olympics 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."
Lyles: Covid definitely affected my performance
The 27-year-old revealed post-race he had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday morning after waking up in the middle of the night "with chills". Lyle said he quickly quarantined in a hotel, but insisted on competing in the final, even if the illness had affected his performance.
"I do have Covid," Lyles said. "I tested positive around 5am on Tuesday morning. Woke up in the middle of the night feeling chills, aching, sore throat and those were a lot of the symptoms I've always had right before getting Covid.
"We tested it and it came back positive so we quickly quarantined in a hotel near the village and got me on as much medication as we legally could to make sure that my body was able to keep the momentum going.
"I still wanted to run, we decided it was still possible, so we just stayed away from everybody and tried to take it round by round. I knew if I wanted to come out here and win I would have to give everything I've had from the get-go. I didn't have any time to save energy. That was the strategy.
"It definitely affected my performance. I am more proud of myself than anything. Coming out and getting the bronze medal with Covid. We tried to keep it close to our chest. The medical staff, my coach and my mum knew.
"We didn't want everybody to go into a panic. We wanted to be able to compete. We wanted to be able to make it discreet as possible and you don't want to tell your competitors you are sick. Why would you give them an edge?"
Tebogo: Lyles didn't put us at risk
Gold medallist Tebogo said Lyles competing with Covid "wasn't that big of a deal", telling reporters: "I wouldn't say we were at risk because it's not a contact sport. Even during the warm-ups in the call room, he was just there by himself.
"I don't think I was put at risk at all. I take care of my body, so when it comes to getting sick, that's rare for me. When I found out it wasn't that big of a deal. I hope he gets better. That's all I can really say."
However, when asked whether he could become the face of athletics after his Olympic triumph, Tebogo added: "I can't be the face of athletics because I'm not an arrogant or a loud person like Noah. I believe he is the face of athletics."
Tebogo led wire-to-wire and won in 19.46 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in history.
"I'm the Olympic champion, it's something I have never seen in my life or dreamt of - it is an amazing moment," the 21-year-old said. "I just came here with the little that I had in me to push through because yesterday we made it to the final, my coach told me 'now it's your race'.
"I knew when the gun went Kenny was going to run away so make sure just to close him down, I have that top-end speed that will allow me to finish the race without getting tired, so that's what I did, and when I saw Kenny fade I knew Noah was far, far away behind us so that means I'm the Olympic champion.
"It means a lot for everybody, the country, the continent and my family."
What else happened on day 13?
In other news, American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke the women's 400m hurdles world record with a time of 50.37 seconds to retain her Olympic title.
Anna Cockrell of the United States took silver and Dutchwoman Femke Bol claimed bronze.
Arshad Nadeem clinched Pakistan's first Olympic medal in athletics in the men's javelin, beating defending champion Neeraj Chopra of India.
Nadeem broke the Olympic record on his second throw with a stunning 92.97 metres - the best in the world this year.
Chopra, favourite to win, looked off his best form, and 89.45 was also his only valid attempt as he fouled on his five other attempts.
Grenada's Anderson Peters won bronze with 88.54, a redemptive moment for the two-time world champion after he failed to make it to the final at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
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