Noah Lyles is an American track-and-field Olympian. Several days ago, he won the gold medal in the 100-meter at the Paris Olympics. He truly won gold by the smallest of margins in one of the craziest photo-finishes of the games. After winning gold in the 100, Noah then ran the qualifying heats for the 200 meter, and of course he qualified for that as well. On Thursday, he came in third place – a bronze medal – in the 200-meter. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo won gold, and Lyles’ American teammate Kenny Bednarek won silver. This was already considered an “upset” because Lyles talks a big game, and people expected him to deliver once again, like he did in the 100-meter. Instead, right after securing the bronze medal, Noah congratulated some of the runners with hugs and pats, then he collapsed on the track. He was taken off in a wheelchair. NBC’s reporters on the ground scrambled to find out what happened, which is when Noah’s mother told NBC that Noah tested positive for covid… two days before the race.
Noah Lyles’ sprint double quest came up just short. He finished third in the 200 final, clocking in at 19.70 for the bronze medal. Lyles ran despite testing positive for COVID-19. Following the race, Lyles, who has a history of asthma, received medical attention and collapsed into a wheelchair.
“I woke up early about 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning and I was feeling really horrible. I knew it was more than being sore from the 100,” Lyles said after the race. “Woke up the doctors and we tested and it came back as positive for COVID. My first thought was not to panic. I’m thinking I’ve been in worse situations. I’ve run with worse conditions, I felt, and we just took it day by day, tried to hydrate as much, quarantined. It’s taken its toll for sure, but I’ve never been more proud of myself to be able to come out here and getting a bronze medal.”
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo led around the curve and sprinted down the home stretch for a surprising comfortable win, running a 19.46. U.S. sprinter Kenny Bednarek captured the silver with a time of 19.62.
Immediately after winning the bronze medal, Lyles needed medical attention. He was taken off the track in a wheelchair and news later broke that he tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the race.
“It definitely affected my performance,” Lyles said after the race, adding that he stayed in an offsite hotel and tried to keep his illness “close to the chest” after testing positive on Tuesday. His teammates and opponents did not know he was sick. Lyles does suffer from asthma, which can make respiratory illnesses worse.
“Why would we give them an edge?” He said when asked about the secrecy, adding they also didn’t want everyone to go into a panic and wanted everyone to be able to compete.
So, it’s really complicated. The Tokyo Olympics were held in the summer of 2021, when the pandemic was still raging and yet vaccines were pretty widely available, especially in Western countries. Instead of instituting a vaccine mandate to get into Tokyo, the IOC spent an insane amount of money testing everyone constantly and enforcing masking and glove protocols. Athletes were supposed to act like they were surrounded by Covid-positive people at all times, and if anyone did test positive, they were basically out of the Olympics. Three years later, none of those covid protocols exist in Paris. It’s a free-for-all and barely anyone is wearing a mask before competitions or within the Olympic Village. I don’t even think anyone is being regularly tested either. I totally understand the “this is an IOC problem, not a Noah Lyles problem” argument. There should have been better protocols in place and that part of it is not on Lyles at all.
That being said, Noah Lyles behaved irresponsibly and that IS on him. While he wore a mask some of the time while he was on site at the Stade de France, he obviously thought it was more important to keep his diagnosis a secret so he could compete, and he thought nothing of possibly infecting other athletes. As I said, after the 200-meter race, Noah was hugging and congratulating some of the other guys. He’s out there, breathing on people. Ugh.
Noah Lyles provides an update on his condition after the 200m final. #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/9Qs1vcBycf
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Olympische Spiele Leichtathletik Paris, 04.08.2024 PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 04: Noah Lyles USA winning the Gold Medal over the Mens 100m sprint on day 10 of the Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS during the athletics competitions at Stade de France in Paris on 04.8.2024 in /France. *** Olympic Games Athletics Paris, 04 08 2024 PARIS, FRANCE AUGUST 04 Noah Lyles USA winning the Gold Medal over the Mens 100m sprint on day 10 of the Olympic Games during the athletics competitions at Stade de France in Paris on 04 8 2024 in France Copyright:,Image: 895988842, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Oliver Kremer / Avalon
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- Olympics 2024 Paris Track & Field PM 08-04 Noah Lyles USA celebratea winning the gold medal in the Mens 100m Final at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games. Paris Stade de France France Copyright: xPaulxJxSutton/PCNx OL2401 TF04006,Image: 896200813, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Paul J Sutton/PCN / Avalon
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- 05 August 2024, France, Saint-Denis: Olympics, Paris 2024, athletics, Stade de France, 200 m, men, heats, Noah Lyles from the USA before the race.,Image: 896283336, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Sven Hoppe/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- 05 August 2024, France, Saint-Denis: Olympics, Paris 2024, athletics, Stade de France, 200 m, men, heats, Noah Lyles from the USA applauds before the race.,Image: 896283398, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Sven Hoppe/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- 2024-08-07 Athletics – Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 – Day 12 PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 7: Noah Lyles of Team United States competing in the Men s 200m Semi-Final during Day 12 of Athletics – Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 7, 2024 in Paris, France.,Image: 896900766, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Rene Nijhuis / Avalon
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- Olympische Spiele Leichtathletik Paris, 08.08.2024 Noah LYLES of the United States in the mens 200 m final at the Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 08.08.2024. *** Olympic Games Athletics Paris, 08 08 2024 Noah LYLES of the United States in the mens 200 m final at the Olympic Games Paris 08 08 2024 Copyright:,Image: 897146437, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Olaf Rellisch / Avalon
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- 2024-08-08 Athletics – Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 – Day 13 PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 8: Noah Lyles of USA competing in the Men s 200m Final during Day 13 of Athletics – Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 8, 2024 in Paris, France. Paris Stade de France France Content not available for redistribution in The Netherlands directly or indirectly through any third parties. Copyright: xx,Image: 897147111, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO / Avalon
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- 2024-08-08 Athletics – Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 – Day 13 PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 8: Errion Knighton of USA, Noah Lyles of USA competing in the Men s 200m Final during Day 13 of Athletics – Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 8, 2024 in Paris, France. Paris Stade de France France Content not available for redistribution in The Netherlands directly or indirectly through any third parties. Copyright: xx,Image: 897147129, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO / Avalon
Oof. My gut reaction is thinking about all the people he could have and probably has infected with Covid because of this. I get that it’s the Olympics, maybe a once in a lifetime achievement, but…. Willingly being in close quarters with people while you are contagious with a serious, could be life threatening, disease. That’s not a good decision.
What a complete idiot. He is a braggart. He is not humble when you listen to what he says it is all about how great he is so no he doesn’t think of others around him. I said when he wine his gold medal and he was just bragging that I hoped karma would come for him and it did. Yes he got a medal but not the one he wanted. Will this change his ways? I don’t think so.
This. A complete idiot. Self serving, arrogant brat. There are people around who may end up severely ill thanks to his grossly selfish behavior. Didn’t like him from the start, even less so now. I say this as a former athlete. There’s no justification for this level of arrogance where people’s health is at stake.
That’s reckless behaviour from him but he’s not the first athlete with covid who still competed this year (many swimmers admitted to have covid for example), he didn’t need to go around spreading the germs though, yikes.
It’s kind of insane from the organising committee to have just put all of the athletes together and expect nobody to catch covid. Between that and athletes getting sick because we made them swim in the Seine it’s just bizarre that we don’t mind our Olympics being remembered as the ones where most of the athletes got sick one way or another.
The athletes who swam in the Seine were actually sick because of a “virus”, not e.coli, it was just announced. And one of the US gymnastics team was competing with a “virus”, too. No one wore masks, or openly admitted that they had covid. I find the whole thing intensely frustrating—they are risking Long Covid with every infection, and these are OLYMPIC ATHLETES, whose entire careers hinge on being the best of the best. What happens if Lyles only recovers, say, 97% of the way? He’s still gonna be fast, but will he be Olympian fast? And yeah, I wish these young athletes were more aware, but I’m putting most of the blame on the coaches, organizers, and medical staff whose ENTIRE JOBS are to keep these people in top condition.
Note: did anyone see the Covid+ swimmer happily accept a medal from Princess Anne? They were both unmasked, faces close together. Greaaaaaat judgement from a woman who will presumably be seeing multiple relatives currently struggling with cancer this summer.
He’s an idiot, not just for infecting so many other people but also disregarding the damage he could do to himself long term. I have severe asthma and I’ve been so paranoid and careful since Covid started. Luckily due to masking and diligence around getting vaccines, I’ve only had it once and it was a pretty mild case. However, even with it being mild it’s still affecting my asthma ten months later. I use my inhalers and nebulizer a lot more frequently, I’ve had to be put on a daily pill, and it’s pretty common to wake up wheezing in the middle of the night. I get that the Olympics is special but he already had a medal. Your life and that of others around you is more important than a second.
It’s likely he was infected by someone else at the Olympics. I don’t think he got it in a vacuum.
For anyone to avoid being infected, one would have to stay inside. Which means we’re all at one point or another putting someone else in danger if we’re not collectively staying inside or not interacting with anyone, especially if some are asymptomatic and might not know they have the infection. But after the vaccine rollouts the world has decided to go back to the world as it once was. I don’t think it can fall on the athletes’ shoulders to model some kind of behaviour the rest of the world is refusing to follow themselves.
Yikes. Disrespectful to the other competitors to put them at risk when he was ill.
Also, before the race the way Noah came out, jumping up and down and taking way more time to hype the crowd and using that physical energy before the race was certainly a choice.
I hope this doesn’t take away from the beautiful race run by Letsile Tebogo. What a moment for him.
Not just other athletes, but all those officials, volunteers, technical crew, families, coaches. So irresponsible.
He knew he had covid and went around other athletes that is wrong! I don’t care how you try to debate the ins and outs of the rules he put other athletes health at risk and that is just not right.
This entire Olympic Games we’ve seen so much sportsmanship and this and what the girls are doing with the floor is just going against that.
I’m truly disappointed he’d risk his teammates safety and health for his own glory not to mention other countries.
I agree with all you said. While this lays squarely at the IOC’s feet for not having better protocol – shame on him for jeopardizing all the other athletes. Selfish and unsportsmanlike behavior. That says a lot about his character. I am wondering why he even took the COVID test – if he was hoping to show he placed despite the fact he had COVID, it’s overshadowed with his selfish behavior.
While I agree they need better protocols and rules it doesn’t lie solely on them he has personal responsibility. There is right and wrong and he chose to risk the health and well being of his team mates, other countries and that is unjustifiable.
So yes it’s wrong and inexcusable for the IOC not to have rules and protocols, he should have done the right thing.
And I do get that would be hard because this is a once in a life time experience but it is for all the other people too, and some are from countries that might not get a chance to come again. Also not we are talking about this and not Letsile’s incredible win.
How do we really know the other athletes might not have it? It doesn’t seem they’re required to tell the public. He chose to after he won but maybe other athletes have it and we’re not hearing about it if they’re not medaling.
These days the whole 🌎 is like, “Covid? What’s Covid?” These athletes, for the most part, are all trained to be this way. The sport and their performance is all that matters. So, of course, many of them are super entitled narcissists. It’s why I give very little thought, much less time, to things like the Olympics. Happy for the winners, but exposing numerous people to what remains a serious illness (and possibly deadly for some) is just not cool.
🎯
Ehhhhh I’d stop short of labeling every Olympian a narcissist. That’s not really fair. Of course, much like entering politics, there’s a certain amount of confidence and raw ambition required to think that you can win in a field crowded with talent. But a lot of these athletes have regular lives and boring jobs when they’re not training to be the best. From what I’ve seen, most are humble, normal people with a competitive spirit and a deep passion for their respective sports.
Not sure if that applies to Lyles or not, but I do think it applies to the vast majority of Olympians.
Maybe he didn’t have COVID and just had an explanation for why he got beat.
This was my initial thought as he certainly didn’t look ill in the least until after he lost the race. He’s either a completely irresponsible idiot or a narcissist brat. Equally unsympathetic to me.
We don’t have Covid protocols. If that’s the case, then it doesn’t look like he broke any rules. A lot has changed in two years. Even if you have Covid, workplaces don’t give you time to get rid of it anymore. They expect you to come in. I think there’s been a cultural shift with Covid once the vaccines rolled out. Everyone is treating Covid like it’s the cold. With vaccine rollouts, no one fears it anymore. Whether that’s right or wrong I have no idea as I am not a doctor . But his position would have been unethical in 2021, but not so much in 2024.
Honestly I’m surprised they even gave him a Covid test. I had really bad allergies this spring – which, some years I do, some years I don’t. I asked my doctor if it was allergies or a cold or if I needed a Covid test and she said “we are going to treat your allergy symptoms as that is most likely what it is, the pollen is really bad this year, and I am not going to test you because it won’t effect how I’d treat you either way, but it will effect your life more. To be clear, I don’t think you have Covid, but you should sleep in a separate bedroom from your husband and avoid crowds for 5 days.” I work from home so that wasn’t a factor.
So, I’ll never know if I had Covid. My husband never got sick so I believe my doctor was correct that it was indeed just allergies. The medicine quickly worked. But then again, I’m double vaccinated and boosted and so is he. So who knows.
I don’t think anyone is getting tested anymore and it’s not being suggested. It’s possible I could have had Covid after the vaccination rollouts, but wouldn’t know it. I am vaccinated and don’t experience symptoms.
Do you have the at home COVID tests where you live? I’m Curious why you didn’t just take one to rule it out instead of isolating. They’re easily available where I am so that’s usually our first step to take an at home test if we have symptoms and (so far) rule it out.
I took an at home test a few weeks ago, my allergies were so bad I was concerned it may be covid. Thankfully it wasn’t.
I’m about to travel abroad for the first time in a few years, and very nervous about getting sick, especially out of the country. I’m diabetic so I could get prescribed paxlovid, and I see other people on travel forums saying they got a prescription before they traveled just in case. I may think about that, if my dr would do it.
Current thinking on Covid is in this part of Europe – keep going. No need to stay home from work, or isolate yourself or wear a mask etc . Just basic OTC medicine same as for a cold, and carry on as normal. Rules vary all over the world, which is very confusing, but viewed from our situation, he did nothing wrong.
My hospital (in a mid-Atlantic state) has a full census again and lots of patients with COVID are being intubated again. One of our PAs was clearly ill during a surgery last week- she harvested the saphenous vein, left the room for a while, came back and said she tested positive for COVID but they told her to come back and wear a mask all day because she didn’t have a fever. We wear masks in the OR anyway, but we’re talking about somebody with an active infection standing at an OPEN CHEST. That is so wrong, not to mention how much I do not appreciate being trapped in the room with a known COVID infection- known only because she told us! Who knows how many other coworkers are walking around spreading COVID because HR told them to get back to work? It makes me feel unsafe at work.
this is wild!!!
I started a new job and I am NOT ALLOWED to be out for any reason whatsoever for six months, and I got covid. I went to work every day masked, I didn’t eat around people, and nobody caught it from me. I didn’t tell people I had it because it’s not like I could stay home for a week and a half (I stopped having any illness after day 1, but kept testing positive for a full ten days), I just said I hadn’t felt well on one day and was keeping it on until I felt all clear.
I get him not wanting to miss the Olympics after all of that (years of training and to have it ruined from covid is a nightmare) and he probably can’t run intensely in a mask, but at least put one on before/after or SOMETHING.
Jennifer that sounds like slave labour
While I think it’s beyond unfortunate that he was put in this situation in the first place, I can support him competing since it was an outdoor event and it wasn’t something that requires touching like basketball (both inadvertently touching each other but more importantly the ball). I support that he moved offsite. I don’t support hugging and the like.
My main thing is that he obviously got it from someone! Like, if we have one publicly confirmed athlete with it, there are, more likely than not, other athletes who currently have Covid as well. And they may not even know it! Or they do know it and are also keeping it quiet.
I am not a doctor, but I find it impossible that Noah and Noah alone is the only athlete with Covid at the moment.
I would have agreed with you, except I got Covid at an outdoor workout bootcamp from a friend who was in my smaller group at the workout.
I was wearing masks in public everywhere indoors at the time and hadn’t been in a social setting other than these outdoor workouts. Later that day he let me know that he’d tested positive. Three days later I tested positive.
So outdoor is definitely less risky. But not fool-proof. And he had to ride on a bus to get there. He was probably eating in dining halls and sharing indoor spaces.
I mask everywhere indoor and outdoor I am not able to get boosted due to a bad reaction and stroke risk so when I see people wearing masks and staying home I am always so grateful.
I have Covid right now. The first time since it appeared. I caught it at a friend’s house I visited on Saturday. She had sinus problems and a cough but tested twice negative. On Tuesday I got symptoms. Major sinus problems, headache, sore throat and coughing. She called me that afternoon and told me her husband tested positive for covid. I tested myself and sure enough, I was positive. I was not even physically close to her husband; I was only in the same room. My luck ran out after avoiding getting infected for the last 4 years. I immediately contacted the people I was in contact with on Monday and Tuesday and my doctor. I’m glad I had my vaccines, the last 3 days sucked, and I just can imagine what it would have been like without the vaccine protection.
It was very selfish of him not to notify anybody of his condition. It is one thing if you are careless and get it, but to endanger fellow athletes and other people for your own gratification is not good sportsmanship.
‘
I also have covid right now. Day 4 of symptoms, fever is gone today & awful sinus congestion has replaced it. I’m vaccinated so hopefully it’ll be short lived. I haven’t left the house this week so I don’t expose anyone but I’m well aware not everyone is behaving the same.
I’m so sorry about your covid battle. I hope you feel better fast. I was able to avoid getting infected for 4 years. Thankfully I had my vaccinations. I think my symptoms would have been a lot worse otherwise. I had no fever, but my sinuses were shut, sore throat and coughing. I spend the last 2 days in bed and drank gallons of water and tea and took ibuprofen. I think I never peed that much in my live. Today I’m feeling better and I’m out and about at home and I can breathe again through my nose.
It will get better. I think everybody just reacts differently. My friend had the same symptoms, and her husband had only fever and muscle ache for 2 days. Like you, I will stay at home for now.
@finny & @butterfly, wishing you both a very speedy recovery from covid!
I agree that it is absolutely irresponsible that not just athletes but others knowingly go around infected with Covid or any other serious viral infection without regard to others. As we know, Covid infections don’t just affect the newly infected person. But it can also have serious consequences for those around them as well. Their elderly grandmother, their immune compromised uncle, etc… In short, spreading covid can still kill people.
I am immune compromised and have other conditions that leave me very susceptible to a bad outcome from covid. For example, I have COPD and just my catching a cold can cause a very severe exacerbation thereof. I mask up routinely but there are always the off chances that you can catch something.
Growing up, we had it drilled into our heads that if you are ill you stay home and you do not risk infecting other people. I understand that some people are not able to take time off work but in that case they should mask up and let their condition be known (so immune compromised individuals can opt to stay clear of them).
For this athlete to enter into a situation where he clearly cannot be masked up all the time and does not/ cannot distance himself from others, knowing he has Covid, is shockingly irresponsible. I don’t care if it’s the Olympics or not. I also think that people that do things like this are missing an empathy chip and are best steered clear from anyway.
All good except: hugging others, shaking hands, all the staff and volunteers he was in the prep room with, all in the village, etc, etc. No excuse!
Can I just shout out to my local boy Kungfu Kenny getting silver? In person he’s absolutely stunningly gorgeous. There are so many other fantastic sprinters in the US team this year that are not getting the coverage of Lyles but are running so well. I’m really going to miss the Olympics.
I don’t really pay much attention to the track and field portion of the Olympics, so when I first heard about this story, I though that Lyles collapsed after the race and THEN tested positive. Which would’ve been impressive, if unfortunate. I was so sure that that MUST have been the case, because who the f–k would deliberately put their fellow athletes (not to mention any race officials, camera operators, reporters, etc.) at risk like that? I was like, “oh, he must feel terrible for accidentally exposing all those people to the virus!” I was so incredibly angry when my husband clarified it.
(As a sidenote, I’m currently battling COVID for the 6th(!!!) time. I’m vaccinated. I wear a mask. I have access to great healthcare. But my immune system is just shit. So, I really appreciate that so many people here recognize that COVID is NOT over, and that people like me still need you to be vigilant.)
ITA with everything you just said. I am so sorry you have Covid Miranda. Speedy recovery to you. My sister has long Covid and it’s no joke. I really hope you do get better healing vibes to you.
I think I am in my feelings about this because one of my friends got Covid last week and had to take all kinds of meds because she’s immune compromised. Also my neighbors, who I love dearly, got covid last week, and the husband ended up in the hospital for a few days. It’s still such a serious disease for a lot of people. We still need to behave in ways that care for others. Even if it’s inconvenient, we need to be considerate!
He probably got it from another athlete who was not required to disclose. My guess is no one is being asked to disclose and as such they carry on. It sounds like he at least tried to keep a safe distance, but I don’t see anyone doing that anymore in regular, everyday life. Everyone is scrunched together on the local buses and subways.
The viewing public didn’t know his diagnosis, but it wasn’t a secret from the Olympic officials. The Paris Olympic protocol is to to inform the team officials and they decide along with the athlete and medical staff if he can continue to compete. He isolated himself from the Olympic village and wore a mask before and after the heats. There are at least 40 other athletes with Covid that have been competing and they’ve been following the same rules.
This is important information to know, thank you.
Yeah I remember hearing about some of the swimmers having it. It’s obviously going around everywhere.
That’s a good point. I don’t think he was required to disclose to the public, and it seems he followed the IOC rules. If he followed the rules they set, I can’t get worked up about it and if I were competing I’d follow what they told me.
Good info to know, thank you.
Exactly it was mentioned in the telecast last night that he followed all of the set protocols. They reiterated that he had been wearing a mask behind scenes and in separate areas before his meet. He made a decision with his team, coaches, and the IOC to continue, He also has asthma so I’m sure COVID hit him extra hard.
I was walking into work a few minutes ago and this dude in front of me just coughed. Didn’t even try to cover it up or move his head or anything so I got a face full of cooties. Yay.
I have a dude down the hall from me and he coughs incessantly. I don’t care what it is he needs to go home or fix it.
Sounds to me he’s trying to make up for his deflated bravado. If this is true, he (or any athlete doing the same) could have given Covid to others. In Lyle’s case, the winner and teammates hugged him in consolation. How irresponsible from him, his doctors, coach etc!
Didn’t we learn our lesson? After what the whole world was put through, OOGG should have made daily Covid tests for competitors mandatory, and a + valid grounds for a no show.
I am so tired.
My feeling exactly.
I am immunocompromised, so I still mask everywhere. But the world has moved on.
This is partly his fault and the IOC’s fault. He shouldn’t have competed and the IOC should have had a rule that anyone who tests positive can’t compete period. Noah is hardly the only athlete to have competed with covid, that’s for sure.
It’s a valid question whether the soft positions on this would be as equivocal if it were an athlete from a different country who did the same thing. I have to wonder whether a person knowingly infected who had potentially affected a US athlete’s chances would be treated so kindly and with such understanding of “the rules”. I suspect that there would be an outpouring of vitriol that the person didn’t do the right thing, instead of falling back on what was allowed per the IOC.
Well, there are at least 40 athletes who did the same thing and it seems they’re being treated more kindly than Noah, at least on social media. And Noah didn’t just spontaneously contract Covid out of nowhere, he had to have gotten it from someone in the Olympic Village or in the venues – so there’s your person who affected a US athlete’s chances. Shall we track that person down to hurl some vitriol?
They interviewed a bunch of athletes about this, and they don’t seem to have a problem. I think they all relate and probably would have done the same thing.
It was an outside event, and he was masking and standing away from people whenever he was indoors. He also quarantined himself when he wasn’t competing. The only thing he did “wrong” was hugging people. I am immune compromised and have to wear an N 95 everywhere I go, and don’t find this that big a deal. I can guarantee pretty much every athlete was exposed to COVID somewhere in the village – there is no way thousands of people traveling from around the world did not bring COVID to the Olympics. I don’t want to downplay how serious COVID still is, but IJS Noah is definitely not the only athlete with COVID out there.
Protocols are very different than they were three years ago for a reason. And again, this is coming from someone who is extremely careful because any URI lays me out for weeks.
The IOC sets the rules. If I were an athlete, I would defer to their rules instead of making up my own judgement about it. When we were required to stay inside 4 years ago, I deferred to authorities. Now that government authorities (and medical teams) are saying we can go outside and do our activities, I’m deferring to their authority again.
Have we all forgotten how djokovic behaved during covid and now he is the big hero again? Pfft.
I haven’t forgotten. I will never respect Djokovic. Same with Justin Turner after the Dodgers won the World Series and he was out celebrating unmasked while knowing he had covid.
LOL, @thinking. Defer to the authorities on this matter? Like the authorities who, in the beginning of the spread of Covid, said that it was not necessary to wear a mask (all the while knowing that people should)? Like the States that have recently forbidden masking up in public? I am not one to blindly defer to an authority, particularly one like the IOC that has every incentive to have the games continue as though Covid doesn’t exist.
I’m ok with using my own Judgement for wearing masks. I wear one to the hospital and to see the doctor. And I wore a mask before it was officially mandated. But for sport and for places of employment, yes, I would defer to the authorities. If a doctor at the IOC says it’s ok for me to compete, yes, I would defer to their judgement. But I use my own discretion for wearing a mask (and I will when I feel it is necessary to keep myself and others safe). However, this is different than giving up my spot at the Olympics. The two are very different scenarios. I don’t think the two are comparable.
American here and at my job site the nurse informed us we no longer need to even track COVID. It’s considered the same as any communicable disease like the flu (her words). We no longer have quarantine mandates in place. Several staff had COVID and were still basically told to stay home maybe a day and they were back at work by Day 3 with a mask. Lyles was set to break a record and enter a club only held by 9 other men, one being his hero Carl Lewis. I think it was important for him to do this while Lewis is still with us. He is one of several athletes who have COVID and after doing something pretty much risky (competing in those two events) he tried anyway. That’s not ego that’s just what an Olympian athlete trains for.
“(Covid is) considered the same as any communicable disease like the flu….”
I’m old enough to remember when people were saying this about Covid when it first started to spread in the US in 2020. It is no wonder then that Covid cases around the rise.
I also wasn’t aware that there is such a thing as a “long flu.” 🙄
There is long flu, it had just gone mostly unnoticed until long covid became well known. Seems like several viruses can trigger chronic illness. It became clearer when so many people tested positive for a novel virus within such a short period, and were still struggling months later.
Influenza has and still is an extremely potent and dangerous virus, not sure why people ever thought “like the flu” is some sort of diminishment. Influenza kills more people each year than many other conditions,and sadly, many children. Way more than covid. It carries serious risk of heart complications not to mention pneumonia, of course. As someone who nearly died from the latter, caused by influenza, while having no existing pre conditions, I marvel at the unserious attitude towards “the flu”.
@Ali, covid is still far more deadly than the flu (although I agree the flu is quite dangerous!). Even with the vaccines, boosters, and antivirals, covid is still a top-10 cause of death in the US, according to the CDC. There were about 76K covid deaths last year (and that’s not counting deaths that were like “post-covid heart attack” or “falling post-covid”). The flu, in a REALLY BAD YEAR, kills about 50K.
Ali. Yes, flu is so downplayed and yet it’s a terrible illness and deadly to esp the elderly during winter. I don’t understand its commonplace acceptance. Another thing, people always bang on about having flu when what they’ve got is a bad cold. Flu is serious. I’ve had it just once. I felt like I couldn’t walk afterwards and it threw my seizures into overdrive. I do however think covid is also incredibly serious.
Wow, @rnot, I learned something new! But this just emphasizes that you cannot lump communicable diseases together in some sort of normal and not life-threatening basket. My point was that equating Covid to something like the flu is an attempt to dismiss the seriousness of Covid, and it’s possible after effects. Well, this emphasizes that we cannot trivialize the flu as well!
His competitors said they had no problem with him competing and didn’t feel at risk.
I don’t like this. But then again Adam Peaty swam with covid, albeit he was removed soon after diagnosis. We really missed him in Team GB. Swimming is the only thing I watch. For lots of people, covid seems to have been down graded to pretty harmless. So wrong.