Noah Lyles is a superstar, and track and field has rarely seen an athlete with charisma like his. Whether you’re a fan or not, one thing’s for sure: it’s impossible to ignore him! With three Olympic medals and six world championship titles, his achievements on the track speak volumes. But it’s not just his speed that sets him apart; it’s his vibrant personality, too. From his anime-inspired style—complete with colorful hair and bold fashion choices—to those epic social media battles and out-of-the-box track entries, Noah doesn’t just race; he turns each event into a spectacle!

Oftentimes, highly successful people like Noah show signs of being different from an early age. His mom quickly recognized that her son was not just any kid on the block; he was destined for something big. But this extraordinary spark came with a price—she faced judgment from others who didn’t understand his uniqueness.

Noah Lyles’ mother talks about his mischievous childhood

In the Got It From My Momma podcast, Noah Lyles’ mother, Keisha Caine Bishop, talked about his mischievous behavior during his childhood. She said, “I remember him having a lot of energy.” Growing up in the sweltering Florida heat, outdoor playgrounds were off-limits, so Keisha took Noah to an indoor play area. There, he spotted a big tube where kids would enter and slide down. Now, any regular kid would jump at the chance to slide down that tube, right? But then again, Noah Lyles has never been considered ‘normal.’

Instead of doing what everyone else was doing, he decided to see if he could climb the exterior of the slide to the top. Keisha Caine Bishop would feel a bit embarrassed as all the parents of the other kids would look at her, thinking, “Are you really going to let your kid do this?” But she wasn’t a match for Noah Lyles’ thought process. She said, “Because he thought it was so boring to slide inside. He is like, everybody could do that. Why won’t you?”

However, Keisha quickly learned the ropes of parenting a spirited child like Noah. She realized that stifling his curiosity would be a huge mistake—after all, that curiosity was a crucial ingredient for his future success. “So I really had to learn as a parent how to raise this kid where I gave him boundaries but I didn’t kill his spirit,” she shared. Talk about a balancing act!

And you know what? Her tactics totally paid off! Today, Noah Lyles stands tall as one of the most successful athletes in the world, and you can bet his mom’s influence was a huge factor. But her impact goes beyond just giving him room to roam; she actively steered him toward track and field.

Keisha Caine Bishop’s influence on her son to get into track and field

Keisha Bishop never really told Noah Lyles outright to start taking part at the track. But, being an avid track lover herself and a high-level former college athlete winning nine All-Americans, she wasn’t going to let her son miss out on track life. For this, she had a plan—she would slowly make him inch closer to running.

In the same interview, she said, “I didn’t think about it as something different ‘cause we just all had a lot of energy.” She decided to make him utilize his energy in sports by enrolling him in tee-ball. This was because it was the only sport Noah seemed interested in. Slowly, the Olympic gold medalist’s attention shifted to soccer at the age of five. At that time, his brother Josephus was his favorite companion to play with.

As Noah’s interests evolved, he dabbled in gymnastics before finally finding his true calling on the track. That pivotal decision turned out to be a game-changer, leading him to become the Olympic gold medalist we know today. It’s wild to think that without his mom’s strategic enrollment in tee-ball, we might never have seen this track star rise to such magnificent heights! Each step of his journey shaped Noah Lyles, proving that sometimes the path we take is just as important as the destination.