By racing Tyreek Hill, Noah Lyles hopes to make track relevant beyond Olympics
How strong is the word 'Olympics'? Strong enough to make millions pay attention to sports that, for the ensuing three years and 50 weeks, they don't care about.
Sprinter Noah Lyles hopes to change that. And the 2024 gold medalist plans to start the process by racing Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill.
'Something that's constantly on my mind is how to keep track relevant,' Lyles told NBC News. 'Track and field has a great reputation inside of the Olympics, but in the marketing sense, when it comes to the U.S., it's just fallen short a few too many times.'
Lyles also has a selfish motivation, in light of the lack of enduring and widespread fame that comes from winning gold and becoming regarded as the fastest man on the planet.
'I want to be more than just a runner because there's enough runners,' Lyles said. 'But who's the performers?'
So one way to perform, in Lyles's mind, would be to race — and beat — someone far more famous who plays the most popular sport in America.
'I'm not here to play around,' Lyles said. 'I'm dead serious about this. I'm going to bring everything I got for this.'
He's willing to take the heat for the perception that he's lowering himself to race someone who isn't a world-class sprinter.
'I get a lot of hate from people who don't believe that I should be racing him,' Lyles said. 'And they're like, 'This is beneath you.' Well, apparently it's not, because here we are.'
Some would say that, in reality, it's beneath Hill.
Although the details about Tyreek vs. Noah (or Noah vs. Tyreek) haven't been announced (including, you know, distance), Lyles's effort to hype the TBD footrace includes boasting that he plans to set a new world record.
'I'm more thinking about, 'Dang, I have an opportunity to break the world record along with beating Tyreek',' Lyles said. 'So Tyreek better be ready, because if a world record gets dropped on his head, he ain't gonna be able to hear nothing.'
Whether that's enough to get people fully invested in the race remains to be seen. Maybe they should stage an argument on Bourbon Street, too.
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