Topics: Usain Bolt, Noah Lyles
Usain Bolt has issued a response to Noah Lyles after the reigning Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles upset Bolt's sensibilities by pretending not to know who he is in a throwaway joke.
Lyles, who tore up the track in Paris to win the men's 100m final with a time of 9.79 seconds, once said "Usain Bolt, who?" and it hasn't stuck with the retired sprint legend at all. Bolt proved as much by demanding respect from the 27-year-old on the Ready, Set, Go podcast with fellow former Olympic sprinter Justin Gatlin.
"I remember when he [Lyles] just came out and he said, 'Usain Bolt who?', I was like, 'Bro, stop it,'" said Bolt.
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"I normally don't say anything, but I was like, 'If you don't know who Usain Bolt is you're in the wrong sport.'
"So stop acting. Put some respect on my name. Every time he talks he says he wants to break my record, so stop it."
Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt become a bona fide sporting icon during his career. As well as holding a 9.58-second world record over 100m, he holds the world record for the 200m and 4x100m Relay. There's no denying Lyles has a way to go before matching Bolt's proven dominance of the sport but he'll be delighted to have achieved such a rise out of the former champion.
"I would never say anything bad about these guys before me because they're the guys who really built the platform and then we add to it, make it greater and compete," continued Bolt.
Lyles, of course, is targeting Bolt's world record. The Jamaican ran 100m in 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin and considered himself the likeliest man to run an even faster time had he not struggled with injury in the season leading up to the 2011 World Championships in Daegu.
Speaking after Lyles won gold in Paris, Bolt nominated compatriot Oblique Seville as the man to take his record. Seville beat Lyles in the semi-final at the Paris Olympics but finished last in the final thanks to an injury.
“Oblique can do it," said Bolt. "If he can stay fit through the season and get it right, he can do it because I’m sure there’s something there, the ability to do it."
Take that, Noah Lyles!
