“Very Hard for Us”: Noah Lyles Strikes Painful Nerve About the Grave Error in Track and Field System

Noah Lyles has achieved sky-high success in the track and field sport in recent years. The 26-year-old Floridan athlete has turned almost everything into gold with his fiery performances and iron-cast confidence. But on one thing, he hasn’t been able to inflict much change despite raising his voice several times. It is the reeling financial issue in track and field sports. In the past, Noah Lyles has aimed at the problem, complaining about the lack of investment in the sport. Now, the world champion has argued about one specific part that might extend the argument further. 

Before entering the NYC Grand Prix 2024, Noah Lyles answered the questions thrown at him in the customary pre-match press meet. In one such hasty moment, he expressed his deep concern over the lack of retirement and the subsequent fund facility in the track and field sports. “I know it is very hard for us to be able to save for retirement when we don’t have a 401K,” he mentioned. Simultaneously, Noah expressed utter helplessness in such a situation, as there is no such way out to cut through the web spun around the athletes. For this, he blamed the authority who believes in a contractor-employee relationship with the athletes. But a debate could develop as in recent times, the World Athletics has announced several breathers to douse the financial issues. 

One such came in April 2024 when the WA announced to addition of $50,000 to every gold medalist’s purse from the track and field segment in the Paris Olympics. It will cost $2.4 million for the global athletics governing body. However, the effort evoked mixed responses, as the sum could not give a feel of ample for an athlete who invests a long part of her/his lifetime into earning that gold medal.

Soon, in June, Sebastian Coe, the chief of the World Athletics, announced a new contest, named World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Scheduled in 2026, the contest holds the unforeseen prize money of $150,000 for every gold medalist in the track and field events. The overall prize money is set to touch the ceiling of $10 million, the highest sum ever. However, it is too early to comment on that announcement. Meanwhile, famed sprinters like Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek are yet to find a solution to the increasing cost and lower payment issue. 

There have been myriad instances of other track athletes as well, earning mere pittances from their races. From being terribly under-compensated to neglected monetarily, this bold move by World Athletics ought to be a breath of fresh air. As per a cohesive report by the website Sapling, track stars on an average raked in about 40,000$ in the US, many of which are acquired through brand deals and viable sponsorships.

Harkening back to cogent data from last year’s prize money offering at the 2023 event in Budapest, gold medalists were awarded 70,000$. What’s surprising, however, is the fact that the Tokyo 2021 saw commensurate appreciation given to athletes financially. Team USA awarded its respective athletes 37,500 $ for every gold. Japan and South Africa, on the other hand, were staggeringly behind with just a lucre of $45,000 and $37,000 respectively.

Seb Coe also opined that –“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal,”, he went on to speak about the broader implications of this landmark decision –“I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”

A few days ago, Kenny made a defiant call to the staggering cost of making it into the US Olympic trial at Oregon and the main event in Paris. In his subsequent X-post, the American sprinter wrote, “The cost to fly and accommodate my team at the trials and Olympics is pretty wild. Prices are jacked up.” Noah stood beside him in his reply to the mentioned post: “It’s hard for all of us man.” The issue is showing no possibility of stopping at the moment. Furthermore, in the question of retirement funds, the treble winner once found another American legend alongside him. 

Noah Lyles’ argument once echoed in a veteran’s voice 

On May 23, 2024, in his Ready Set Go podcast, Justin Gatlin commented on the issues that usually follow athletes after earning six figures on the tracks. Terming the six-figure sum as the “quick money”, he supported the co-host Rodney Green’s comment that is usual in the sports. In his disbursal, Rodney had said that the athletes might face it hard to manage with $80,000 salaries in traditional jobs after earning around $250,000 to $350,000 in their athletic tenure. A lot of this sum often finds no route to savings as the cost of preparation for the sport is huge. In such a situation, the athletes may have to walk on a double-edged sword. Justin Gatlin has one solution to that. 

The track and veteran suggested, “We get no retirement fund. We get no 401(k), okay? We get no pension. We get none of that. So go ahead and keep making your money until you get your pockets where you need to be or either they close the door on you as a sport, period. And then you got to move on.” So, now it stands to chase the quick money. Yet the statistics differ from this perspective. As per the available data, in 2022, only 1/5th of the top 20 athletes in the world earned over $50,000. This shows the hard picture in track and field sports right now.