Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo Sprints to Gold in 200m, Americans Bednarek and Lyles Take Silver and Bronze
In the 200 meters, Noah Lyles tried to add to the gold medal he won in the 100 meters. On Thursday, the favorite didn’t win gold or silver, but bronze. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo won gold, and another American, Kenny Bednarek, got silver.
It was Bednarek who won silver in the 200 meters in Tokyo, but he came in seventh place in the 100 meters in Paris at the Stade de France.
In Tokyo, Lyles won third place in the 200-meter race. For the 2024 Olympics in Paris, he added the 100-meter sprint. That worked out early this week.
Sources close to the case told The Associated Press that the 27-year-old from northern Virginia was identified with COVID just two days before the 200-meter final. Lyles was seen going down on one knee and asking for water almost right away after the race. He sat on the side of the track for a long time while medical staff took care of him. After the event, pictures and videos showed him being taken off the track in a wheelchair.
Kishane Thompson was Kiles’s close competitor in the 100-meter race on Sunday. Lyles beat Thompson by a mere 5,000ths of a second. The medals were won by Fred Kerley of the United States in a photo finish. The top four runners were only.04 seconds apart, and the top seven were only.09 seconds apart—a blink of an eye.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics, things have gone well for Team USA. They were in first place in the medal count for track and field events, with six gold, seven silver, and six bronze medals.