*U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics but also stirred controversy with the U.S. men’s basketball team.
Lyles previously made headlines by criticizing NBA players for labeling themselves world champions and more recently went viral for his remarks about declining an invitation to Anthony Edwards’ Adidas shoe release, Athlon Sports reports.
In a new interview with BuzzFeed, the athlete seemingly takes satisfaction in the fact that some U.S. basketball players had to watch him win gold in the 100 meters.
“They talk about me more than I talk about them,” Lyles said.
“I’m very happy that they came to watch [my race] because I made a tweet or a post a while ago, and I was addressing people who love me and hate me, and I said, ‘No matter what, you still watched, didn’t you?’ That’s the funny part, because you know, no matter how people see you, they’re still going to watch whether they’re there to watch you fail or watch you succeed.”
1. Noah Lyles said the NBA Champions are not “world champions”.
2. He said he didnt want to do an event with Anthony Edwards (NBA PLAYER) because he didn’t have a championship https://t.co/0UGT2WuDYR pic.twitter.com/0eArKDz9W5— DEUCE P 🎯 | 🇭🇹 (@NotPremi) August 12, 2024
Lyles insists that his original comments about world champions were taken out of context.
“The point was supposed to be that the U.S. has so many people with the title of world champion or Olympic champion, and we seem to give it to others who don’t actually have the title,” Lyles told BuzzFeed.
“Why do that? They’re already great. They are already dignified in that, let’s celebrate the other sports out there who have taken on the world and are coming back and saying, ‘Hey, we did this for you.’ We want to be celebrated just as much,” he said.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Gold Medalist Noah Lyles Unfazed by Criticism of His Painted Nails
