“The gun goes off… I cross the line… 9.41!” As ridiculous as it might sound (9.58 may have sounded ridiculous some years back), if Noah Lyles can dream it, he can achieve it. While we can leave that optimism at play till August 5 (or on the day of the heats), there is another promise from ‘Nojo’ that might not see the light of day. And might this put a side smirk on the face of someone with the initials UB and a torch bearer from the Paris opening ceremony?

Just breaking the speed record of the fastest man alive was half a goal. Noah has his eyes set on equaling another American athletics legend. And one way, rather the only way, to achieve this feat is to become an Olympic champion in not one, but four track and field disciplines. Talk about BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goals. But from what it appears, this dream will need some more waiting and praying. More of the latter. 

Why can’t Noah Lyles pull off the Olympics Quadruple? 

When UFC Champion Alex Pereira said he wished to compete for the heavyweight title, a tiny strata still believed he could beat Jon Jones. But when Noah Lyles vocalized this ambition, it shook the whole sprinting universe. The fraternity that had put to sleep the GOAT debate after Usain Bolt’s treble in 2016, suddenly woke up to this claim.

Truth be accepted, the 27-year-old carries solid backing. True, other legends had touched their prime as 23-year-olds and the Gainesville-born athlete recently said something that led to an interpretation that the Paris Games could be his final Olympics. But limits don’t apply to champions, with it being visible at last year’s World Championships. His Budapest Glory, now a Netflix documentary staple, proved with pixel clarity that this man’s fast-twitch muscle fibers can do the impossible. Will he get a chance in Paris?

Well, USA’s 4x400m track team is already stacked with specialists like Bryce Deadmon, Vernon Norwood, Quincy Hall, Christopher Bailey, Courtney Lindsey, and Michael Norman. In fact, Quincy Wilson is also on the list of reserves. So now for a Lyles to squeeze himself in, when his 4x400m warmups never took off, is highly unlikely. 

And even if there is a 1% chance that the coaches will succumb to Noah’s star power and still allow him to compete, the comments from track biggies don’t help. Be it the legendary Michael Johnson, Quincy Hall, or the heated Fred Kerley, multiple notable voices have raised concerns around this controversial pitch. So one can logically conclude there’s no quadruple opportunity.

The Usain Bolt supremacy still under threat

With a history of asthma, ADD, dyslexia, and mental troubles, Noah Lyles was non-existent in the ‘history-makers’ conversation until 2022. Today, he is the poster boy of the American track and field roster. Perhaps he derived some power from those anime heroes that he follows. Whatever be it, that energy has helped him shave off crucial micro-seconds and clock a personal best time of 9.81 (0.23 seconds off the Jamaican King’s record) in the final Diamond League meeting before the Paris Olympics. 

“He was the fastest man ever to do it. And soon, it’ll be me.” Lyles has said a version of this on multiple occasions. In an indirect response, while the 19.19 Jamaican has asked the new champ to “keep your same attitude,” he has also admitted, “if he break[s] the world record, I’m not gonna be happy… but it’s not gonna be easy.”

What’s setting Noah Lyles apart from the competition

Not the aerodynamic hairstyle, not the ICONic nail design, but it is the eccentricity that keeps Noah apart. Where Fred Kerley or Zharnel Hughes will keep a more volcanic body language, Noah is an apocalyptic tsunami, to say the least. 

At age 12, as he watched his father Kevin Lyles coaching a youth team, it fueled in him the hunger to opt in. “He was that kid who was just always trying to test things out,” stated Kevin Lyles, mentioning how Noah eventually found an outlet for his passion to pursue a career in track and field. And by the way, this was 15 years back when Usain Bolt ran his earth-shattering 9.58s in Berlin. Seven years later, when Bolt was busy winning his three golds at Rio, a senior year Lyles was just one place away from making it into the USA track team.

Fast forward to July 2024, Beyonce saying, “Come on, you gotta love Noah and Sha’Carri, the fastest man and woman on the planet” means something. So even if someone can call the reigning world champion sprinter blasphemous for challenging his highness Usain Bolt, those comments don’t matter.

What matters is that Noah can still become the fastest man to ever have walked on this planet. We have this French fortnight to find out! Have thoughts? Feel free to tag me in the comments.