Lyles overcomes depression and dyslexia to win 200M Gold

World track and field has struggled to fill the void created by the retired legend Usain Bolt for a while and US sprinter Noah Lyles widely regarded as the man to fill that continued to run fast times in the 100m and 200m, while having charisma like Bolt with crazy celebrations and crowd attraction.

But, despite being the fastest man of the 200m for two years, Lyles did not have a single world title, to back his claim to be the next superstar on the track until Tuesday, when he clinched the gold medal for the 200m with a time of 19.83 seconds, a relatively slower time than what was expected.

But, his path towards this gold has been one that could have brought tears to one’s eyes, struggles he went through as a child, the world championship gold medal meant a lot more to him than the fast time.

“I’ve had a lot of different challenges through life and it’s shaped me into who I am now. I had chronic asthma; I had my tonsils removed at six. I had learning disabilities ADD and dyslexia. I was in the slow class at school because I had to learn to read differently.” said Lyles.

“Mainstream school just wasn’t my strong suit. I got isolated at middle school. I’ve gone through periods of depression and I used track as an outlet. I tried to work on my character as much as I can, on always staying happy and loving what I do.” said Lyles.

Since his learning abilities weren’t up to mark, Lyles was in trouble and he was afraid that his track career will stop after high school if he did not get in to college

“In high school I cried because I thought I was going to fail out of college and wouldn’t be able to run. My mum said, ‘You could go pro out of high school.’ And I said, ‘People don’t do that.’ Little did I know that I was going to be the first one” said Lyles.

Lyles hailing from a track and field family, helped him to focus on been an athlete, though he did not choose the path of his father, Kevin Lyles who was a 400m runner.

“Me, and my dad don’t talk all too much but he was actually my first Coach. He was the person who got me into the sport. But, I came into the sport because I wanted to be an Olympic high jump champion. Then I ran at his club from 12 to 15 and he taught me hard work and diligence, and pushing through boundaries. Both my parents were track stars and they introduced me to a world of track and field at a young age. I’ve been around Olympians my whole life, not knowing how great their achievements were.”

Lyles did not get the fast time he was aiming for but the gold seems to be a lot of relief for him.

“I got one out of two, let’s put it like that. I got the gold, which was the number one part of the plan. A fast time was number of two. But, if you try to force a fast time it won’t come. Another time, I will have that moment. I was truthfully shooting for a 19.3.” said Lyles