Noah Lyles, Defending 200m Champion, Gets Bronze

Noah Lyles, the defending world champion for the 200 meter dash, lost his world title after a three-time streak of winning the event.

A member of the U.S. team, Lyles fell just short of his heavily awaited gold medal in the Olympic 200 meter final to a member of his own team, Kenny Bednarek, who raced pass the finish line 0.02 seconds quicker than Lyles. However, most shocking was the gold medalist in the event, Letsile Tebogo, an athlete from Botwana. Scoring a time far ahead of his competition, Tebogo obtained a world-leading time of 19.46, ahead of Lyles' 19.70 and Bednarek's 19.68.

Most shocking was the aftermath of the event. Deemed to be the easy favorite, Noah Lyles lost to his competition by a substantial margin. But why?

A cold is to blame. After the race, Lyles complained of symptoms of shortness of breath and lightheadedness. It was later found that he raced the world 200 meter final with COVID-19, which significantly impacted his speed and endurance.

Meanwhile, Tebogo obtained the first Olympic gold medal for Botwana. Tebogo had the 5th fastest 200 meter time in Olympic history.