Before and during Thursday’s men’s 200 meter at the Paris Olympics, U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles faced an additional competitor with some spikes. Not running spikes but spike proteins all over itself—as in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Lyles finished third in the race for the bronze medal behind gold medalist Letsile Tebogo from Botswana and silver medalist Kenny Bednarek from the U.S. And after the race, Lyles revealed that he had tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday morning just two days prior.
It was clear that Covid-19 had affected Lyles’ performance in the race. His breathing appeared labored and soon after he had crossed the finish line, he received medical attention. This culminated in Lyles being wheelchaired off the track. Yes, the SARS-CoV-2 can catch even the fastest person in the world, namely Lyles who had earlier in the Olympics won gold in the 100 meters.
When Lyles talked to reporters later, he wore a black face mask and said, “It definitely affected my performance,” He added. “I had to take a lot of breaks [to receive] fluid.”
It affected his lead up to the 200 meters as well. Soon after he tested positive for Covid-19 early Tuesday morning, Lyles moved from the Olympic Village to a hotel where he could stay isolated. He also reportedly received Paxlovid and other medications to treat his symptoms.
Lyles kept the positive test news from those outside his inner circle. Adam Kilgore writing for the Washington Post quoted Lyles as saying, “We didn’t want everybody to go into a panic. We wanted them to be able to compete.” Lyles continued with, “And then two, we wanted to be able to make this as discreet as possible. You never want to tell your competitors you’re sick. Why would you give them an edge over you?”
It wasn’t surprising that Lyles would do whatever he could to not put himself at a competitive disadvantage. Athletes spend years training and competing to get to the Olympic Games for one shot a medal at a given event. This is their livelihood. So you can expect them to do whatever they can within the confines of any rules put forth by the Paris Olympics and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
And the Paris Olympics hasn’t been requiring athletes to report positive Covid-19 tests or to withdraw from events when they test positive. When it comes to Covid-19, the Paris Olympics seems to be leaving it up to the different countries and national Olympic committees to decide how to handle Covid-19 testing, prevention and treatment. This has made it difficult to tell how many athletes have gotten infected during the Olympic Games and whether and when Covid-19 outbreaks may be occurring.
It also means that you may not be able to tell how Covid-19 may be impacting these Olympic Games. Those infected can range from not having any symptoms to becoming severely ill with lots of possibilities in between. There’s also the risk of long Covid after recovering from the initial infection. This can mean a host of different persistent symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, headaches, tremors, increased heart rates, palpitations, stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, hearing problems, sleep problems, fever, sweats, chills, urinary problems, vision problems, depression, anxiety and leg swelling. And you can imagine how any of these symptoms could affect athletic performance.
Again, for Lyles, who also has a history of asthma during childhood, it was clear that Covid-19 was affecting his performance in the 200 meters. Would he have won the race had he been completely healthy? Without the Quantum Realm or a DeLorean time machine, that would be impossible to tell. What’s also not yet clear is how Covid-19 will affect the rest of his Olympics and beyond. Lyles still has the men’s 4 x 100 meter relay race to run in Paris. And it’s difficult to relay what will happen with Covid-19 and the possibility of long Covid until after the infection has passed, which can take up to 10 to 14 days.
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