Noah Lyles' first Olympic gold medal is a perpetual license for him to trash talk us all forever
It's a terrible day to be a Noah Lyles hater.
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Gooood morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.
Here’s your daily medal count as of 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
— United States: 74 (19 gold, 28 silver, 27 bronze)
— China: 52 (21 gold, 17 silver, 14 bronze)
— France: 44 (12 gold, 14 silver, 18 bronze)
— Great Britain: 38 (10 gold, 12 silver, 16 bronze)
— Australia: (12 gold, 11 silver, 8 bronze)
Noah Lyles is never going to stop
If you thought Noah Lyles’ trash talk was bad before? Whew, boy. You’d better mute your television when he comes on the screen. Now, it’ll never stop.
Yes, I’m talking to all the NBA fans out there praying for his downfall. Don’t worry—you aren’t alone. Everyone who hated those Yu-Gi-Oh references will need to tune him out, too. And a special shoutout goes to all of you who hate how he paints his nails.
Unfortunately for you folks, it’s only getting worse from here. Not only did Lyles win a gold medal in the 100-meter race at the Olympics, but he may have won the closest race ever. We’ve never quite seen anything like this in modern Olympic history.
There have been close races before, sure. The 1952 sprint in Helsinki comes to mind, with the United States Lindy Remingo leading a pack of runners who all came in with a 10.4-second time. There’s even the 1980 Moscow Games, where Great Britain’s Alan Wells just edged out Cuba’s Silvio Leonard Sarria, with both running a 10.25.
But the big difference between those races and Lyles’s races — and why Lyles’ race is probably the closest in history — is because officials didn’t measure down to the thousandths of a second back then.
That’s what it took for Lyles to slip by Kishane Thompson. Five thousandths of a second made the difference.
SEE MORE: See the visuals of Noah Lyles’ comeback win. It was so close.
If the race ended after 50 meters, Lyles would’ve placed 7th. He didn’t take his lead until the very end of the race. Only about a 10th of a second separated Lyles in first from Oblique Seville (9.91) in 8th. It wasn’t just a race between first and second place — everyone was in this thing.
But it was Lyles who emerged as the best of the best. We’re never going to forget this moment. Partially because it was such a special one, but mostly because he’s never going to let us.
Can’t say I blame him.
The U.S. gets the last laugh in the pool
(Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
The swimming is done in Paris and the U.S. maintained its dominance throughout. Michelle Martinelli has been there every step (or lap?) of the way. Here’s her final word from the pool in Paris.
NANTERRE, France — Bonjour, les gagnants! You know who ended swimming at the Paris Olympics as winners? Team USA.
Not only did the Americans win the swimming medal table with 28 total, but they also won the gold medal total with eight.
But ohhh, man, the gold-medal tally was close.
Thankfully for them, distance swimmer Bobby Finke came up big, and the women’s medley relay team ended the competition with an electric gold medal and world record.
If not for Finke — a two-time Olympian who won silver in the men’s 800-meter freestyle — the American men would have left the pool without an individual Olympic gold for the first time since 1900. But Finke said he was aware of that possibility, and he wanted to defend his 1,500-meter freestyle gold from 2021 in Tokyo.
He went out fast, saw where his competition was, knew he had to maintain the lead he built and stormed home to not only win back-to-back Olympic golds but also set a world record. Katie Ledecky, his distance swimming counterpart, swept the 1,500s, and she was so animated cheering him on.
His stellar race inspired Gretchen Walsh on the women’s 100-meter medley relay to finish strong and break the 7-7 gold-medal tie with Australia. And the relay team absolutely DOMINATED.
Regan Smith (backstroke), Lilly King (breaststroke), Walsh (butterfly) and Torri Huske (freestyle) obliterated the field in the final event of the meet, winning gold by more than THREE SECONDS and breaking Team USA’s 2019 world record.
Both races were absolutely thrilling and a phenomenal way to end the nine-day meet, where the Team USA women were the stars of the show.
It was my first time covering Olympic swimming in person, and while I’m sure the second half of the Paris Games will be amazing, I’d do the last week all over again if I could.
The other side of the Olympics
We’ve talked a lot about triumph at the Games today. But there’s plenty of loss, too.
Carlos Alcaraz showed us what that looks like on Sunday when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the men’s tennis final. After losing the match to Djokovic, Alcaraz burst into tears. That’s how much representing his country at the moment meant to him.
Carlos Alcaraz after losing to Djokovic in the Olympic gold medal match
“It’s painful to lose the way I lost this match. I had my chances to probably be up in the match. I couldn’t take it. Novak was playing great. He deserves this. In the tough moments he increased his level.… pic.twitter.com/CnXzZwlJRe
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 4, 2024
Here’s a fresh perspective from Robert Zeglinski:
“Alcaraz is a competitor, so losing is never easy when you reach the doorstep of a new achievement. But there’s also no reason to wallow in sadness over what could’ve been. Recognizing that you gave it your all and still left the Olympics with a medal — which is no small feat — still means the world.
Alcaraz’s time for Olympic gold will come. For now, he should savor this experience in every possible way.”
Honestly, this is what the Olympics are all about. This sort of passion for sport and country is inspiring. Alcaraz has lost before, but this one meant just a little bit more because of what he was representing.
Robert is right. Alcaraz’s time will come at the Games. I can’t wait to see his reaction when it does.
Quick hits: The moment Jordan Chiles medaled … A word from Imane Khelif … and more
— The moment Jordan Chiles won bronze for her floor routine was so dramatic. Here’s Caroline Darney with more.
— Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has been through so much at these Games because of unnecessary and uncalled for hate. Stop it. Charles Curtis has more on her here.
— Robert Zeglinski just dropped the first power rankings of the NFL season. Let’s go.
— Here’s the fan reaction from Lyles’ photo finish. Andrew Joseph has more on the moment.
— Here are three facts about Julien Alfred, the world’s fastest woman. Blake Schuster has more here.
— Here’s Mitchell Northan on Tyreek Hill announcing his new deal with a perfect tweet.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading. We’ll catch you next time. Peace.
-Sykes 