The Paris Olympics are done and dusted, but Noah Lyles and the drama never stop. It all kicked off when Lyles threw some serious shade at NBA star Anthony Edwards. In 2023, when invited by Adidas to an event for Edwards, Lyles flatly rejected it, saying, “You want me to do what? You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?”

Although Lyles later congratulated Edwards on his 2024 victory, the saga continued, with Lyles demanding his own exclusive sneaker after his 100-meter Olympic win. And now, teasing the situation, Fred Kerley has jumped into the fray with a subtle dig at Lyles!

Noah Lyles makes the requests, but Fred Kerley actually gets them done!

Noah Lyles had quite a handful of demands at the press conference that followed immediately after his 100-meter gold. During the media interaction, Lyles pointed out that he wanted his own sneaker collection from Adidas. He said, “I want my own shoe. I want my own trainer. I want a sneaker; there ain’t no money in spikes.” And this was exactly what Fred Kerley decided to speak about. Taking to his X account recently, Fred Kerley took a subtle dig at Lyles’ demand for an exclusive sneaker. Kerley wrote, “People talking about making sneakers in track I already did that. Like literally did that. And we ain’t talking about spike.”

This was a reference to when Kerley ran on the tracks with training shoes. Fred Kerley had a special shoe made with his former sponsor ASICS—a one-of-a-kind Gold Medalist edition of the Superblast. As a matter of fact, Kerley himself has quite a controversial history with his sponsors. Earlier, when he was registered with ASICS, Kerley turned up wearing Puma shoes, which revoked his contract immediately. 

Thus, with his recent dig at Lyles, the entire athlete-sponsor tension seems to be coming prominently into the spotlight. Coming back to Noah Lyles, during his Paris presser, the Olympic gold medalist referenced Michael Johnson and mentioned that he too did not have his own sneakers. Calling this a ‘notoriety’, Noah Lyles also had a confession to make!

The reigning Olympic champion’s Adidas confession

Despite Noah Lyles bringing home not just a gold but also a bronze while battling COVID-19 at the Paris Olympics, Adidas seems to be looking the other way. Instead of celebrating Lyles’ incredible achievements, the brand threw a lavish bash in Paris for Anthony Edwards, who snagged his first gold medal. But that’s not all.

Adidas presented the basketball prodigy with custom “Gold Medal” AE 1 sneakers—shiny all-gold kicks, presented in a sparkling briefcase, complete with a translucent rubber bottom—a first for the AE 1. These exclusive shoes are likely a one-of-a-kind treat just for Edwards, and probably won’t hit shelves anytime soon.

Despite all the drama, Noah Lyles did clear the air about Edwards, saying, “No disrespect — the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe because they saw that he was going to be big.” Still, Lyles couldn’t help but push for his own deal. Feeling snubbed by Adidas despite his Olympic success, Lyles opened up on ‘Nightcap’ with Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, sharing his frustration of 2023.

He said, “I will say, being very vulnerable in this moment, I felt very unheard at that moment with Adidas. I felt very unheard. What do you do when you feel unheard? You try to shout louder… Unfortunately, that was one of my moments where I had to shout to even get them to look my way.” On February 26, Lyles and Adidas renewed their partnership with a contract that had everyone buzzing.

The announcement teased, “Details of the contract are not available, but the agreement involves extensive commitments both on and off the track and is the richest contract in the sport of track and field since the retirement of Usain Bolt.” It seems Adidas is finally listening to their star athlete. But the big question now is: will they listen again and give Noah Lyles his golden shoe moment, just like Fred Kerley and Anthony Edwards got theirs? What are your thoughts? Share in the comments below!