Milliseconds separated the gold, silver and bronze medalists at the men’s 100-meter final in the Paris Olympics on Sunday. It then took several seconds for the photo review to be completed and the winner of the race to be revealed. But after what felt like a lifetime, U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles took home the gold, becoming the first American to win the gold medal in the 100-meter event in 20 years.
Lyles finished with a personal best time of 9.784 seconds, just 0.005 or five-thousandths of a second ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who took home silver (9.789 seconds). Team USA’s Fred Kerley finished .02 seconds behind Thompson for bronze (9.81 seconds).
After Lyles was declared the 100-meter champion, the 27-year-old immediately ripped off his race bib, went to the first camera he saw and sent America a simple message.
“America,” Lyles said, eyes locked on the camera. “I told you! I got this!”
WHAT HE SAID. @LylesNoah#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/ujy9ZAXdK2
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Lyles then walked his walk around the Olympic track holding up his name on his race bib while hyping up the packed audience at Stade de France.
Shortly after the race, Lyles posted a series of photos from his gold medal win on social media along with the caption, “I Told You America I Got This!”
I Told You America I Got This! #OlympicChampion pic.twitter.com/boBOZv3650
— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) August 4, 2024
Lyles is the first American man to capture Olympic gold in the event since Justin Gatlin won gold in the 2004 Athens Games. Lyles is looking to become the first man to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter events in an Olympics since Usain Bolt.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Noah Lyles Had Six-Word Message for America After Winning 100m Gold Medal.
