TMZSports.com
Justin Gatlin ain’t blaming Noah Lyles one bit for hitting the Olympics track while positive for COVID … telling TMZ Sports the opportunity to secure a medal simply outweighed the other risks — at least, in his mind.
Of course, there were many detractors in the sports world who felt differently … as they believed the American endangered his fellow competitors and others in the area when he chose to run the 200-meter final on Thursday in Paris while symptomatic for the coronavirus.
NBC Olympic coverage is exceptional but this their Achilles. All we hear is Noah Lyles, Noah Lyles.
Then Letsile Tebogo 🇧🇼 smokes him & field, then his story is told.
Tebogo 1st African & youngest ever🥇 in 200m.
We love 🇺🇸 but we love greatness toopic.twitter.com/gzVCnh7HSt— Maximiliano Bretos (@MaxBretosSports) August 8, 2024
@MaxBretosSports
But Gatlin — a USA track legend — told us on Friday he would have done the exact same thing … explaining, “this is an Olympic dream you have, man.”
Don’t get it twisted — the 42-year-old didn’t downplay the seriousness of the disease — telling us, “I’ve had a family member who has passed from COVID.” He just said he thinks the advancements in medicine have mitigated a lot of the potential issues.
“This is something that I think with Noah,” Justin said, “nothing was going to stop him from getting to that starting line and trying to give this all his best.”
Gatlin went on to say that because the Games only happen every four years, he feels Lyles didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.
“This is not like the NBA Finals where it happens every year,” he said. “Or the Super Bowl where it happens every year. It’s never a, ‘Well, you’ll get ’em next time!'”
Lyles — who won the bronze in the 200-meter event despite the ailment — did ultimately opt out of Team USA’s run in the 4×100 event Friday to recover. The squad went on to lose without him … though check out our talk with Gatlin — he believes that race’s outcome could have been different with just a few minor tweaks, even without Lyles in the mix.