Noah Lyles: Why Paris 2024 Olympics Medalist Paints His Nails
- Noah Lyles has managed to match up his pre-match huge talk by winning multiple major medals in global championships
- His latest came in the men's 100 at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris after beating Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second
- The other thing that stood out was his colourful nails, with the American getting some slack for painting them
Noah Lyles is the perfect embodiment of everything he wants track and field to be. He trash-talks his opponents, talks himself up, dresses the part, and on competition day - he wins.
Since Usain Bolt retired, the sport has struggled to have a main character energy - something Lyles is hellbent on changing before he retires.
Source: Getty Images
How Noah Lyles beat Kishane Thompson
On August 4, he entered Stade de France pumped up for the final. Not even the long, pensive delay got to him.
And at the end of it all - Lyles won it on the line, beating Jamaica's Kishane Thompson in one of the most dramatic and entertaining Olympic finals of all time.
Noah Lyles' nails
If you had a keen eye, you must have realised that the new Olympic champion had painted nails. The nails were fodder for public debate after he painted the word ICON across them in blue and red colours.
The 27-year-old argued that he did that because of his personality and who he was. Lyles has been at the forefront of using fashion as one way of selling the sport. This is not the first time he has worn nail polish. He showed up with red and black nails during the New Balance Grand Prix race in February.
Why Noah Lyles paints his nails
When asked about the nails, Lyles waved away criticism, insisting that he always tries to remain true to himself.
"Hey, I know you were brought up this way, but I was brought up that way,’ and the fact that you can’t see the differences of why I might do it, I find that entertaining."
The nails are a way of him showing his confidence, which sometimes has been misconstrued as cockiness.
"I’m a person who knows that a lot of people have different opinions, and they have them for different reasons. The most misunderstood thing is the balance between cocky and confident."
“There is a strong line that people assume my confidence is cockiness," he said, as quoted by the Independent.
His mother also spotted colourful nails. She went with the American flag on one hand and the Jamaican flag on the other. Lyles' girlfriend, Junelle Bromfield, is also a sprinter and at the Olympics representing the Carribean nation.
Noah Lyles wins Olympics gold medal
Briefly News also reported that Noah Lyles won the men's 100m Olympic title after edging Kishane Thompson by the finest of margins. Lyles won the race on the line, beating Thompson by just nanoseconds in one of the most exciting finals in Olympics history.
The Jamaican thought he had won it on the line, but the screen showed that Lyles had just beaten him to it in his debut in a senior global championship. All the athletes clocked a sub-10, with only Oblique Seville not running under 9.9 seconds.
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Source: TUKO.co.ke
