’Y’all Fooled Us..”: Olympic Champion Sides With Noah Lyles; Calls Out World Athletics Over Award Controversy

The World Athletics has been in the headlines ever since the award ceremony turned out to be a disappointment for many athletes. Among all the athletes, one who voiced his chagrin with the whole episode is Noah Lyles. He expressed his disregard with the sudden systemization change by the World Athletics during the ceremony in Monaco.

For the first time in history, it’s not been two, but six athletes who have been awarded by World Athletics: Tigist Assefa, Mondo Duplantis, Kelvin Kiptum, Faith Kipyegon, Noah Lyles, and Yulimar Rojas were announced as World Athletes of the Year for 2023 during the ceremony. This decision to award more than one athlete as the best of the year sparked a controversy, given the abundance of records and outstanding performances by various athletes.

However, after a week of this ceremony, another track and field athlete Warren Weir rallied for Noah Lyles. Adding his perspective to this decision, Weir has opened up with his unfeigned thoughts.

Noah Lyles receives support from Jamaican sprinter

The American sprinter Noah Lyles took a moment to voice his opinion about the unexpected amendments made by the organization. After a week of the ceremony, the retired Jamaican athlete Warren Weir stood up for Noah Lyles supporting his thoughts on the change brought by the authority. He shared a video on his social media about the same.

The Track Spice shared his video on their X account. In the video, Weir was seen calling out the World Athletics for the sudden change in the award categories. He expressed, “We are all so confused with this new format that came out of nowhere and honestly this watered down by giving multiple awards to multiple areas”.

Weir further added, “Y’all fooled us with promotions”. He substantiated this statement by saying that the organization allowed the enthusiasts to think the awards were based on a mystery of who would win out of all the nominees.

With this he passed a suggestion for the organization by stating, “And World Athletics if it was going to be a categorized award, it would have built up an anticipation with more nominees from each area”. With this, he rallied for the points shared by the sprinting sensation Noah Lyles.

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Noah Lyles’ opinion on the World Athletics changes

After winning an award at the World Athletics award, Noah Lyles voiced his opinion a few days later after the awards. He expressed by stating that he found the right words for everything that happened at the AOY awards. He added, “When they decided to split the award without telling any of us, including the fans that voted. It made me feel that none of our achievements were good enough to be AOY”.

He further suggested to the organization that he agrees with the fact there should be more categories but not with excluding the Athlete of the Year Award. He also wished that the format would have been changed in the upcoming year and inform the athletes about it for a more structured plan.

Read more: How Many Awards Did Noah Lyles Win in 2023? – Decoding the ‘World Champion’s’ Best Career Season