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Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo both won respective sprint gold medals at the Paris Olympics, but only the Botswanan was given 30,000 fans reception. With the American voicing his opinion on this, it has become a controversial topic as fans are divided on it being jealousy or he's just stating facts.
Noah Lyles remarked on the poor reception he and fellow American Olympic medallists received back in their country, unlike fellow track stars Letsile Tebogo's 30,000 fans in Botswana and Faith Kipyegon in Kenya.
The Olympic 100m champion and 200m bronze medallist voiced this out on the @NightcapShow_ with @ShannonSharpe and @ochocinco, stating the USA needs to do better on how American athletes are celebrated especially when they perform at different big championships.
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18:37 - 15.08.2024
Grand reception for Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet, and other Kenyan Olympic medallists in honour of Paris 2024 exploits
Kenya's Olympic medallists at Paris 2024 were welcomed to a grand reception in Eldoret.
“Unlike these other countries that celebrate their athletes on such a humongous stage. When Tebogo won his gold medal, he went back to a stadium filled with 30,000 people celebrating,” Lyles told Shannon Sharpe.
“When I showed back home on my flight, of course some people recognized me and I’m very thankful for that, but there was no 30,000 people, there was no Melo driver ready to take me home, there was no bus waiting.
“I had my mum, paps (dad) and they were ready to take me home and I was ready to go to bed. We have a different way in America of seeing our sports, the problem that I had was you are giving the title of world champions to people who were not facing the world.”
Lyles' statement has caused several reactions and controversies online, bridged between whether he was talking based on jealousy or just facts about the American sports culture.
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Without further ado, here's a brief analysis of both points and why Lyles has the right to air his grievance despite the criticisms around it.
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03:27 - 19.08.2024
Noah Lyles aims for new goal of breaking Wayde van Niekerk's 400m World Record of 43.03s
Noah Lyles believes he can threaten Wayde van Niekerk's 400m World Record of 43.03s when he decides to focus on the event.
On jealousy
As a human, Lyles is permitted to feel a bit jealous considering he's a six-time world champion, blazed to the 100m gold medal in Paris to strengthen his claim as the world's fastest man.
Yet, for his hard-end services, all he has dealt with is online backlash, hate, and criticisms, with most from Americans. Seeing Tebogo's jaw-dropping reception for winning the same colour of the medal he won in the 100m (USA's first since Justin Gatlin attained the same feat at Athens 2004), and all he came home to was his family, friends, and a few fans recognising him could have aroused a bit of jealousy.
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However, is it majorly based on jealousy? Not really. Rather, he wants track and field to get more recognition as a sport in the US and equality with the attention other sports such as Basketball are given.
On facts
"I understand what he’s saying. In America, the biggest highlighted sports are Football, Basketball, & Baseball. Sure we have other sports where there are celebrated stars. But it’s not the same in comparison for the other athletes in the sports. Claressa Shields talked about how she won Olympic Gold twice & didn’t get the recognition coming back home," wrote at @RatedDru as a reaction on X.
The sports mentality in the United States has been spoiled with so many stars and victories at sporting tournaments such that Americans are accustomed to their winning culture.
Lyles sees the parades and celebrations that sports teams in the US get when they win and expects the same when he wins gold. When in actual fact, in the US, winning for your city in pro sports is better than repping your country at the Olympics.
Most Olympians become hometown heroes and get celebrated in their cities, where they are also loved. So the valid questions here are: Does his hometown people know him? Is he around his community? Does he have philanthropic athletics projects in his hometown?
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17:00 - 18.08.2024
How I got COVID at Paris 2024: Noah Lyles recounts running the 200m final in 'the best shape of my life'
Noah Lyles explicitly detailed the circumstances that led to him competing in the Olympic 200m final despite having COVID and how he was in the best shape of his life in Paris.
Therefore, the sports culture in America is bigger than just being famous because you're great at what you do. For instance, most NBA and NFL players aren't famous and celebrated on a large scale for their accomplishments.
In conclusion, Lyles raised valid points in his statement and perhaps it's high time Americans have a rethink on their sports culture by giving equal recognition and reception to all sports, especially after a global tournament like the Olympics and the World Athletics Championships.
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