Explicit

Nightcap - Hour 1: Noah Lyles joins the show

Published Aug 18, 2024, 7:05 AM

Shannon Sharpe and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson are joined by USA sprinter Noah Lyles to break down his 100-meter gold and 200-meter bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Noah also discusses his contractual issues between himself and adidas, resulting in Lyles not attending an Anthony Edwards shoe release party. Later, Noah reacts to Tyreek Hill's comments about a potential race between the two.

03:40 - Show Starts
04:44 - Noah Lyles Joins the show

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)
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Please make sure you go follow my media company page on all platform Shay Shape Media and my clothing company. Eighty four the Lincoln penned at the top of the chat. And guys, with no further ado, we got no more introductions to make Harry is the current world's fastest man Olympic gold medalist in the one hundred meters. He's a three time two hundred meters champion at the World Championship. He anchored the World the gold medal winning team and the World Championship last year. Here he is, Ladies and gentlemen, No allows, no, how you doing, bro feeling good?

Feeling good? What's popping?

I'm good. Let's get right into it.

That race leading into it, you ran your fastest time leading that Diamond League meet.

I think you ran nine to eighty one.

You know, Kashane Thompson has run nine seven seven, and everybody's talking that's the man to beat, that's the man to beat. And you had never run sub nine to eight to run it in the finals when you absolutely had the habit, Tell me what was your strategy going into that race and how were you able to pull it off?

To be honest, I have many strategies. They all kind of you know, we're thrown out the window, so closer and closer we got to the finals. You know, in the first round, I'm like, okay, you know, I'm gonna work on my first sixty. I'm gonna get out, but you know, you know I have add so my brain is working on overdrive. It's like, well, we could we could get out easy and then hit it hard, or we can get it hard and then shut it down, or we could run fast all the way. And the problem was I thought too much and then I underestimated my competition. It's like, no, see, now you had to you messed up. I'm like, all right, all right, I need to call my brain down. I needed to get it.

Set on one goal. So we get to the semifinals.

Now I'm like, all right, aggression, mindset, power, everything like that.

And it produced, you know, a really good time eighty three.

You know, it tied again my second pass of time, which was my pr before London. So I'm like, all right, you know, I'm good. I'm good, but you know I feel I can go even faster. You know, I didn't want to get beat, you know, So here I am coming getting second in the semos.

I'm like, you know, what's going on?

So my my therapist calls me and she's like, you're running with aggressing. You're running with a Noah, that is not you. And I'm like Okay, fair enough that that's not me. You know that that's an older way of thinking. That's just not how I run. It's like, you need to run free, need to run with no pressure, just go out there and run. And I'm like, all right, cool, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna just run. And she said if you control the crowd, you control the race. And I know, I'm like, well, shoot.

That's that's how I do. I'm gonna show me. That's that's what I do.

You know, if that's all that takes, I'm gonna win the race. But we get you know, we're getting out there, I'm just like, just be me, Just be me, Just be me. We get out there and you know, they're doing the intros and you know, Kashane comes down Kashane.

He ends up yelling and I'm like, oh, hold on, that's that's me. But I didn't hold it for it.

I liked it though, because I love to see more personalities come up than just look at the camera say hi, walk out. It's like, nah, Noah, bring that energy, like get me excited to run. So you know, there's another YouTube video that NBC put out where it's like you can see us in the back of the car room, you know, Fred and.

On the side, you know, banging on the wall.

It's like, let's go, you know, cause Shane's doing his yelling. I'm over here singing dreams the nightmarees. I'm like, yeah, this this is an Olympic, this is an Olympic Finals. So you know, I go out, I'm jumping around, I'm running past the cameras, I'm yelling at the crowd and they over here like yeah excited. I'm like, yeah, this is this is my race now. And you know, from that point on, it was just repeating, you know, you know, God got me, God got me, got me. Because at this point, I've done everything that I need to do to win this race. Everything that I need to do has been done in months in advance. You know, we're already here. Now it's just a believing in myself that it's gonna get done. And it's not about running fast times. It's about running to win. The times will come when you to win.

So you go out there and your reaction time isn't bad because normally you're like your your reaction time is a little slow, but I think you knew. I really can't spot as Justin Gatlin says nine eight can't catch nine to eight if you give up too much cushion. So your reaction time wasn't that much behind him. I think he was zero point one seven six, and I think you were zero point one seven eight and so, so you're really close. But you know you got the top end. You got four hundred meters strength, you got two hundred meters strength strength, So you've had to feel good if I'm close to this joker at fifty sixty meters, I can get home.

Yeah, I knew.

I knew how I had a good lane. When I saw Oblique Seville was gonna be next to me, I'm like, that's the guy who's been beating me. He's beat me twice already. I know, I know his strengths. I know where he's gonna try and and go on me. And the problem I feel is every time that's I've been too many lanes away to see when he makes that move. So I'm like, now that I got you right next to me, I know where you're gonna make your move, and I know I'm gonna make it as soon as you make yours, and you know, thankful he was there for that and I was able to do that. And a lot of people get stuck on this reaction time and like, oh he got out the block slow. You know, I'm I'm a numbers guy. I look at every ten meter increment. I look at five minute increments, how fast I was to this part of the race, how fast I was in this and at the end.

In the beginning, So when.

I'm looking back at the race, I'm looking at the numbers, the numbers are actually very normal for me. In the first ten meters, it was probably some of like it matches some of my fastest runs.

The difference is everybody else said.

I got to be better, I gotta be more, I got to be more than I've ever been before, and they did. But in the end of that race, they tired themselves out. So you saw a time that was not representative of their prs because they use so much energy trying to be that in the beginning of the race. But because I was, you know, already on par for what I normally do, I just put an extra bit on the end and it led me to run it faster.

You know, it's so funny when I sit here and think about it, when I think about running one hundred meters, right, the margin of error is so small you can't make any mistakes. And if you do it, if you do make a mistake, whether it be in the start or depending on what phase of the race you do, make that mistake, in the chances of coming back. Since everybody is so fast and the race is so short, obviously only being nine seconds, how do you process the race when you have so many different runners against you? Are you racing more and so against them? Are you more so racing against yourself from a strategic standpoint.

Yeah, it's a patient race. It's very patient. A lot of people think, you know, you just gas it from the get go. You can't do that.

You know, there are many runners.

Who are specialists in the sixty and then they come to one hundred and it's not always as representative. You don't see a transition, you know, to the hundred and even to two hundred. So, yeah, it's a patient race. And to answer your question on terms of athletes, you know, there's a confidence in yourself knowing that no matter who you race, you're gonna still do what you've been doing in practice. But there's also the confidence in yourself that says, I love to compete, and when somebody pulls on me, pulls up on me, or somebody gets out on me, I'm a captain.

Yea.

So it's it's it's a confidence thing.

Now if you panic in that moment, it doesn't matter if you're racing the competitors or if you're saying, oh I had a bad reaction time, I'm out of the race. Now it's the confidence to say I'm gonna get myself back into the race or hold on, it's okay, I'm gonna reel them back in, you know, to catch them. Give me a few meters, don't tighten up, but I'm gonna get to you that.

No, let me ask you this.

I was hoping that you and Kashane was next to each other, because, like I said, I had we had Justin Gatlin on here, and we had Michael Johnson on before this race took And I said, the problem that I have is that he Kashane has never.

Been on the global stage.

I said, I understand the nine seven seven at the trials, but the Olympics and the world stage is something different. I say, if somebody can make him run the full hundred meters, we'll see if he can still hold that form when he's letting.

Up at eighty meters.

I think big Thread being next to him put him under the gun. He applied pressure from the beginning all the way to the end, and.

If you look at his last eighty eight.

The like fifteen twenty meters, that form started to break and that was your that was the door that you needed to open just enough for you to put a foot in and get eventually get your get your torso to the line of.

Yay, I agree, it's very accurate.

And another point to that is, you know a lot of people is like, oh, Kashane ran this time slowing down, slowing down, slowing down. And yes, it's very impressive that he ran those times slowing down, but unfortunately you never took your body to running full speed. So when now you need it at the end, it's it's a new it's a new world, and unfortunately you don't want to put yourself in a new world position in the Olympic final. But I do agree one hundred percent putting pressure on it. Fred, putting pressure on him definitely was a bonus to.

Me, you know what, but go ahead, No, go ahead?

Looking on, Hey the piggyback off.

One of the key words that you said obviously being on an Olympic stage represent your country one hundred meters in Paris. Now you have experience running in big meets, You have experience being on the big stage.

Does the pressure really affect you that much?

And if it does affect you, what ways are you able to dodge it and suppress that pressure.

To be able to go out there and run the race that you need to.

The way that I view crowds and pressure. You know, my coach said something that I felt like really got to me. He said pressure can work in one of two ways. It can either boost you by twenty percent or it can tear you down by twenty percent.

You decide how you want that twenty percent to go.

If you say, this is my opportunity, this is my moment, this is what was made for me.

That's a boost twenty percent.

Right.

If you're going in saying, shoot, I've never raised these guys before. You know, I don't know if I could do this. You know, this is uncharted territory. You know what if I'm not prepared, what a bunch of what if?

What if? What if?

That's twenty percent less than you're going to underperforming. You know that's not the mindset you want going into that. And that's how I view competing. Every time I get to a big stage, I believe that this is a moment that God has prepared for me. You know, I put in the work.

In the natural.

You know, I'm gonna believe that God put in the super and to put it together, we're going to create the supernatural.

Okay, let's transition. You win the goal. You said, that's what you wanted to do. You wanted to win to go. There haven't been a whole lot of men, Noah, that have double when the hundred meter goal and the two hundred meter goal in the Olympics. We know what you saying, Boat there from eight to sixteen. He tripled up, Carl Lewis, he doubled up. But it's not been a whole lot of men to win both of those races. And so I know you got the hard part out the way. It was the most challenging event. What's going to be the hundred You are two hundred meter specialist kind of like you saying that turned yourself into a great one hundred meter runner. So now you get to the two hundred, when did you start to notice something like, damn, I'm coming down with something. I don't feel like, noah, my win is I'm not being able to breathe like I normally do.

I'm to be honest, there were now looking back, there were signs the day of the finals of the hundred that I was like, this is taking too much energy to produce what I normally produce.

But I just threw it to the side. And then I wake up the next day.

So it's Monday now, after the finals, and I have a sore throat, and I'm just thinking, oh, okay, maybe I just cheered a little too much.

Maybe I was yelling a little too much. Even though I didn't really feel like I was.

I just you know, put it off to that because you know, I had a job to do, right.

It wasn't until I woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday.

Morning and my body is aching, I'm chills, I'm I got a headache, my sinuses are running, my throat is super sore. I'm like, oh no, these are all the signs I get before I get COVID, and I said, I called up the doctor in that moment.

I said, we need to test, we need.

To tell you.

So you've had COVID before, so you know the symptoms or the oncoming of it.

Again.

Not only have I.

Had COVID before, For the last two years, I have gotten COVID a week or the week of US Championships the last two years.

Wow.

So this is the first year that I didn't show up to US Championships with COVID or with just coming out of COVID. So I'm thinking, oh, I'm good. I'm not catching COVID this year. You know it's gonna be great.

It is again the worst time in the worst time in the world.

But you feel good. You going through the round, you feel fairly good. I think you dropped the bogo in the semis. Yeah, and you look nor you ran. I think you ran a nineteen fifty. I think he was in the race and he ran nineteen fifty seven. But it was a nip and tuck race.

No no, no, no, no no, no, that wasn't that wasn't this me.

No, no, no, I'm not saying that, but I'm saying you were in a race previously that you won the race.

But Kenny, yeah, Kenny Iron ran Oh gosh, I can't remember if it's fifty three and he ran fifty seven or fifty six.

It was at US Championships.

Right now, but you raced to Bogo, so you know he has he has great.

He's forty four, he's low forty four four in the four hundred, He's got nine sub ninety nine in the one hundred, so you know he probably on a good day, he probably can go sub nineteen six. Oh are you're probably thinking I'm probably gonna need to go sub nineteen six, maybe even nineteen five in order to win this, given the given who's.

In this race. Correct.

I wasn't even thinking about that, okay, because going into the meet, before I went over to London, I'm doing practices and I'm asking my coach what do I need to run to prove to you that I can break this world record into two hundred, and he tells me the time and I do it. So in my head I'm in world record shape.

Wow.

So it's not about the competitors, it's how well can I run my best race? Okay, But as soon as I get COVID I'm like, oh my gosh. Like now, I'm just trying to make sure that I get through every round. I'm that I'm gonna be able to be as fit as possible. And you know how I was talking about having a plan before you got it, before I got to the round. Yeah, I had a plan before I got to the two hundreds out the windows.

Right, you threw it out and threw it out.

Yeah, I'm I'm right now. I'm just trying to get as healthy as possible. They put me on the medication, the COVID medication. Uh, and that stuff is amazing. I'll tell you. It's shorted. It supposedly gets rid of most of the symptoms, and it shortens the time period that you actually have COVID.

That stuff is amazing.

But of course still, you know, having asthma, it has an effect. So I'm just trying to go through, you know, warm ups, trying to get as normal as possible each round. But and in my head, I'm just and I'm trying to just throw away any negative thought that I have again, keeping that confidence in the idea of I'm going to go into this believing.

That I'm in the best shape of my life.

I like that this this is this is really dope and really fascinating, I mean obvious for me and listening to how you guys transition, Like when you think about the two undermeters, you think about the hundred meters, so you're two undimeter race. To me, I would think is a strategy and a mixture of speed and endurance. Is there a way you can break down the approach you take as opposed to the under meter and the way you approach the tournameter when it comes to strategy.

Yeah, I'd say the in the one hundred. You know, the way that me and my coach breaking down is first to sixty and then you know that and then my top and speed will hit around eighty meters right, and then I'm just holding positions. If I try to run any faster after eighty meters, you know I'm likely to start breaking down in the two hundred. Is I feel that it's a constant building up I'm constantly just building up speed, building up speed, building up speed. I'm very conscious of where I'm positionally in the lane. I want to be in the middle of the lane to the middle outside, and then when I come from the turn to the straight, I moved straight to the middle or middle inside and slingshot and off of that. You can relate it to NASCAR, you know, they go come back to me very similar in the two hundred. I'm using that speed and then you know, just maintaining you know, upright running positions. You know, after a while, when you've run it so many times and you are striking the ground with straight legs directly underneath your hips, it's easy to run fast. It just feels like you're kicking. You're on a skateboard and you're just kicking, pushing it along.

You know.

Uh, that's the mindset that I kind of have as I'm running the two hundred, specifically, because it just keeps It's just momentum building and building and building.

You don't really want it to slow down.

Unfortunately, that was not the strategy that I went in with in this two hundred, because I felt that throughout the whole rounds I had to constantly build up my energy just that.

I can get to baseline.

Noah, by the time I got to the finals, I'm like, if I don't bring out the energy that I normally do, I don't think my body would react in the same way right now, I got it, I argue, I gotta get it back to baseline so we can give myself a fighting chance in the whole race.

Is there is there a preference of lamee because I didn't think you look, I didn't think you wanted to ken it beIN there, that far us out of in Tobogo, that far outside of you is there? I mean a lot of people late lane six seven five six seven, I think you were in lane four. So what's your what's your lane preference given? If no allows us one hundred percent healthy and if training has been great leading up to the meat, what's your lane preference?

Six or seven? I my faster times in six and seven I could do damage and anything from four to eight. After once you go below four, it's it gets difficult.

That turn gets really tight, and the way that you have to position your body is it strains the body to get around the turn so that you can give yourself a fighting chance on the second hundred.

Yeah, that's a that's a really tight turn.

When you're on the inside lanes, you really you got to be hugged at inside lane.

Really.

What's crazy is Michael Johnson broke the world record in lane three because that he did me technically a preferred lane. I don't know how he did that because I've run it lane three quite a few times. That that that's not a that is not a preferred lane in my opinion.

You know, the lady that broke the Mardarina coke, she broke the world record in lane too, in the four hundred meters.

Yeah, I know, I know, I talking about that.

Yeah, we're not there's a there's a thing. There's some testing going on state, but we'll get all. We're talking about that off offline. So okay, you got COVID, and and everybody seemed to be making a lot of the situation that you like, I need water, I need to get so you're like, did you ever think about pulling out the race? I'm surprised them that you raise because normally COVID, you get COVID. We can't have you contamidate anybody else, but the officials any say no, we got to quarantine you for twenty four hours. You might not be able to race. Was that ever a conversation, Yeah, that was a conversation.

And while I was getting tested, I was talking with the team USA doctors, and they were telling me what the rules are. They changed them from Tokyo. They said that anybody who has COVID is allowed to compete. It's up to the governing body of their sport or their country to decide how they want to handle the COVID situation.

So, you know, I'm I'm just letting you know.

There were a lot of people in the village who had COVID, you know that just didn't say I'm just the most popular person who got COVID and said I have it, And because of that, it sort of, you know, it serves up a lot of controversy in itself. But you know, I've as soon as I heard I got COVID and I was able to compete, I said, I'm going to try. You know, I'm not promised tomorrow, so I'm gonna take advantage of what I have today. And if it's so, if it's so, be it that I'm not strong enough to make it through the rounds, then I'm you know, I wasn't.

I wasn't able to do it.

But the fact that I was able to get to the finals is and still grab bronze, And I was like, that's a metal that I could easily just said no, I got the gold, I'm good. No, no, I'm here now. I thought this for four years. I trained for this for four years. Why not take the opportunity?

Obviously, you know that, you know the mythical number that's out there, nineteen nineteen. You've taken down the American record held by Michael Johnson. He broke that record in nineteen ninety six at the Olympics. Actually he broke it at the trials of nineteen six, the nineteen seventy nine a record, So he's went up. I mean, what nineteen seventy two with the world record, if I'm not mistaken in seventy nine, but it was that after to Michael broke it at sea level in Atlanta.

So you know, you're gonna have to have the perfect race.

It's gonna have to be the perfect surface, and it's gonna have to be the perfect You're gonna get the perfect lane, and you're gonna have to have the perfect competitors. Everything's gonna have to be perfect nor No.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean it can't happen, you know.

I mean, I'm very aware of that, but I'll be ready on the day you know, I can't be ready on every day. I try to be as ready as possible. And that's you know what I just just try for. You know, I know that perfection is never a thing that you can actually obtain, But on my journey for perfection, I can obtain history.

I like it speak speaking of that journey and where you are right now, at the top of your game, the best ass in the world at what you do. Uh, many would view you in a in a way that most would see obviously the villain and in a sense, you know, you know, being at the top, people taking shots at you, you being uh somewhat brash and confident in the way you carry yourself and the way you do your job, and that that is okay. Do you embrace being a villain and in some sort of way and and and enjoy some of the banter back and forth or I'm just curious how you feel about it, because you know, you always hear some of the things from other athletes say and stuff, and uh, you fire and back.

I mean, how do you take it personally? Do you do you enjoy it? Do you like it?

And just before you answer it, like for me myself as a villain myself.

I love being in that spot.

I like it.

I like people talking about me. I like the trash talk back and forth. I'm just curious, how do you how you feel about it?

I have a mixed view on it.

In the sport itself, if we're talking about straight running your best to me, I'm better than you. I don't have probably. I love it, you know. I love the answer, I love the energy. I love going back and forth. I don't have a problem with that at all. That's what I'd love to see. That's what gets everybody excited. Now when people lie on my name outside the sport, that's when I draw issues and draw lines. But control that, you know, I can't. I can only do my best. But you know, I'm very aware that people are gonna want to hear what they want to hear, and some people are gonna take things different ways. And that's just how we are as humans. You know, everybody has their difference of opinions. Unfortunately, that is where I you know, I gotta say, I got to remind myself of that.

You know, Okay, haters are.

Gonna hear what they want to hear, but the people who support me, they're gonna want to hear what they hear as well. And at the same time, I see so many people who are affected by what I do in a positive light that I'm like, Okay, you know this, This makes me feel good. You know, it's very comforting to see that, and uh and know that you know I'm changing sport. You know, I'm trying to move forward.

As much as possible.

Uh.

In terms of being the villain and being the hero, I see myself as an anti hero. Sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty, and sometimes you know you got you gotta try and shoot for the stars.

But we're not perfect. I mean, we're human.

You know, we make mistakes, you know, but when we try to do better, you know, I would hope you try to do better. But yeah, I mean one of my I feel biggest strengths is, you know, I listened to the people around me, and when I mess up, I try to correct those.

Wrongs and do the best and do better next time.

Yeah.

One thing I can say is when you reach for the stars and you get your hand dirty and you combine the two, you combine the two, it's it creates someone extraordinary. So from from one to another, keep doing it the way you're doing it and keep making noise.

I appreciate it, man, I appreciate it.

No I think you got a lot of pushback. You run the World Championship last year and unprompted, you said, you see these hats and they have World champions on it, which we've always called the basketball players, we've always called the NBA, the NFL, the Super Bowl champ we've always called MLB, we've always called the World champs. And I think that's where a lot of the blowbacks, because it seemed like one of America's best athletes were taking another was taken a shot at some of the America's best athletes, and I think it kind of put you under the eye because then you know, basketball players said what they said, some football players chimed. And also and then for the first time I actually saw some of these athletes like openly rooting against you. I mean you might now, I mean something you have probably never seen another country. You're not gonna see the Dutch somebody from Dutch rooting against Femka, a rooting against our carston LEAs from Norway or inga Britsin. We're not gonna see that, do you think you brought some of this on yourself with that comment, or what were you to accomplish by making that comment?

I think the last question that you asked, what was I trying to accomplish by making the comment, is the most important one. Everybody sees the clip, everybody sees the thumb. Now, everybody sees the sixteen seconds. But did anybody decide to ask what was the question that he that was asked to me?

Right?

The question that was asked to me is how do you feel knowing that when you go back to your own country? Unlike these other countries that celebrate their athletes on such a humongous stage, when to Bojo won his gold medal, he went back to a stadium filled with thirty thousand people celebrated. Yes, when I showed up back home on my flight, of course some people recognized me, and I'm very thankful for that. There was no thirty thousand people. There was no limel driver ready to take me home. There was no bus waiting. If I had my mom, I had my pops and they were ready to take me home, and I was ready.

To go to bed. None of that.

There was none of that, right, But that the difference. I can understand the difference because we have a different way in America of seeing our sports. The problem that I had was you were given the title of a world champion the people who weren't facing the world. That's where I drew the line and said, that's hurtful because you already have those, but you're giving the title the people who aren't doing that.

Nothing wrong with the man. They're great chances, they just didn't have the title.

Is nicolea Jokic one of the best players in the world.

I'm gonna be hosie he that is.

Okay, Luca Luka Doncic to okay.

Jannis Athampo, Yes, he's okay. What's are They're great, they're great players, great players.

But they're world players. They're not from America.

And the problem that you're going to run into, Noah, is that Boatswana doesn't have a whole lot of athletes to celebrate as opposed to Americans. If you look at probably Kenya and Ethiopia, and and and and Sedaan in some of these other countries, the Dutch, the North Norwegians, we got NBA, we got MLB, we got football, we got baseball, and so yeah, teams, they have parades. Nobody is getting for the most part, even Michael Phelps. I don't know if they did they have how many people showed up at M and T. I don't know if Michael Phelps were eight goals, I don't know if he had thirty thousand show up.

I know they might have had a big contingent cheering him on.

I just think that the difference is Noah is that in a sport, in a in a in a country like Botswana, or you're talking about a country, he's their hero. He he is here to both Swana, He's Lebron James.

That's what he is to both Swaana. Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Uh you saying boat what he is to Jamaica. He's He's he is there. Michael Jordan, Yeah, I agree. Michael Jordan went in Chicago, they showed out for the parade, but but a problem when he went back to Wilmington where he was from.

Ain't no thirty thousand show up for it?

Yeah? No, I agree.

No, I agree one hundred that I'm not expecting that. I'm not expecting the parade. I'm just showing that the difference of how our sport is shown. And because the question that was asked again was how does it feel knowing that when I go back home, it's not what somebody like to Bojo is getting.

When he goes off right.

And again, I know what it is.

I know what it is.

I know we have you know, football and basketball, baseball, golf, those are all above my sport.

I know that.

I'm cool with that.

I of course I want to make that better, but I understand that.

Again, the only problem I had was you have world champions but you're giving the title to people who aren't facing the world.

And you're giving them the title of world champion.

That's the only thing. That's the only thing me personally.

Noah, I think if look, your two biggest meets are the two biggest are the Olympics in the World Championships, and enough they don't the Diamond leagues.

Yeah, I mean if you stream it, you can see it.

It's not it's not as televised as say football or basketball or baseball.

And so it's hard for the America for the for the cash, for the cash person.

Everybody has a favorite team, whether you know the Cowboys fans, they're all over the place. The Steelers fans, the Packers, whomever, and so it's hard when I only really get a chance to see no Allows maybe what three four times and a four year span and a four year cycle.

I agree and just said it's something that I talked to World Athletics, USATS, the Diamond leagues constantly about. I mean, you know what the hardest pill is gonna be for us to swallow as a sport. Sprint just came out. It is successful around the world, it's successful in the US. They're about to come up with another season and it's gonna do great. The hard part is that we as a sport are not ready for the popularity that is gonna come. Everybody's gonna say, I want to be a track and field fan. I want to follow Fred, I want to follow Noah, I want to follow Arion.

Guess what, we.

Don't even have a place to tell them to go to watch the track because it's in every other different country, a different place, and it's you gotta get a VPN and you gotta find your own website.

You gotta go on these.

Back alley places to just walk TV in a different language. We ourselves are not ready infrastructurally wise to say, hey, world, get get come on, we got something amazing for you.

And that's the hard part.

We just you know, the rights just for the domind leagues just got dropped by NBC and moved the flow track. Now we're putting it behind the paywall and making it even harder for fans to become new.

Yeah, Okay, it hurts because I knew this was gonna happen.

I knew that this was that sprint was gonna be successful because we have great athletes, great stories. The second parties, we are not ready for it yet. We need to get ready and we need to do it fast because it's coming.

To l A is Uh is the is the the event you're talking about? Is Michael Johnson what he just launched? I think he got sid McLaughlin. I think he had had a couple of Grand Slam track, Grandson Grand Slam track. Yes, Uh have they? Have they approached you about being an active participant in this.

We've I've been in talks between me, Michael and my agent. We've been talked since the day I heard about it, trying to get as much information, trying to get as much you know, a feed on it, a feel for what's going on.

There's a lot that I like that he's doing.

There's a few things that I think could be a little better. But the thing that's stopping me at the heart of it is I have yet to hear a TV provider. You know, again, what good is it if we're producing these great times, these great.

Shows, these great it's the problem.

We're in the same problem with the Diamond Leagues and with World Championships. I need to hear a TV provider. I need to know that he's going to be able to get seen consistently.

Yeah, I think that, and that's one of the important things to grow the sport is the exposure. You have to have the exposure, you have to have the visibility also on on on the back end of that, and what I like is is the more personalities that we have in track and feel those that don't just go out and do their job and just do it quietly, but make noise while they're doing it. It creates a certain excitement for people that don't watch or just might be just casual fans.

Just want to tune in.

Yeah, it forces and it makes people want to tune in and see what's gonna happen, especially when you have guys that are polarizing like yourself, that had the personality and had the enthusiasm, and it's a certain aura about them that makes you want to watch even if you're not a track fan. But again, man, the TV exposure invisibility is very important, and it's sad in twenty twenty four that it's not where it should be where more people can watch it.

No, I know you didn't participate in the four by one, but what was your level of disappointment? Because if you look at what they ran and qualify to qualify, they ran thirty seven forty.

Thirty seven forty would have won the goal if I'm not mistaken.

Canada ran thirty seven fifty, which won the gold medal and the time that they qualified with. And one of the problems that I have you was the only person that's that that didn't run in the qualifying rounds.

You were gonna run anchor. Why would they.

Move the championship the World the World Championship team Coleman handed the baton to Fred. Currently, why would you take Fred from second leg and put him on anchor when Fred has been running second leg for the last two to three big meets.

There's a lot I want to say, but I'm gonna start with this.

I first want to give props to that team for not throwing anybody under the bus after they did not.

Complete the task.

Because if we want to get better, we can't be blaming people.

So I don't want to come over, come out here and start blaming people.

No, I'm blaming the coaches.

That is usually, But if therein lies the problem, how many people are in the coaches here?

That is the thing that gets USA in trouble.

Because you got to know that some of these athletes are Nike athletes with Nike coaches. I'm an Adidas athlete, Adidas coach, and some coaches opinions personal are held at higher regard than other coaches opinions. And when one person is taken down I e. Me, it creates now a shift and everybody wants to go into different places because they're a little bit scared, and they're a little bit nervous, and they want to get they want to do it a little different. And I feel in that vacuum of me leaving, it provided everybody a chance to say, Okay, well we can now switch it up a different way, and unfortunately.

Because of that, we weren't prepared.

You know, those were those were handoffs that were not practiced when we practice, and seeing it was what happened was was heartbreaking. It was truly heartbreaking because I believe there were two in my head, there were two great options that we had. One was to use the team from the prelimbs that would have got the job done, and the other was to put Kenny on the anchor leg. Unfortunately, that's not the route that we went and it just didn't get done. And it's heartbreaking to see.

But no, yeah, five Olympics, we haven't been able to get the baton around five.

All I know is every time I'm only angry we win. That's all I know.

Well, do you need to suck it up? You should? With that mask on one, it sucked it up, bed.

I was thinking about that when I was watching it.

We had we had Quincy holl On and Quincy said that I know you said you wanted to run not only the four by one, but the four by four. Quincy believed that you could lay down a blistering time in the open.

Four What do you think you? What can you? What can you what's your pr currently and what do you think you can run with some training?

Oh, I haven't run the four open force since high school. I think I ran like forty seven for but I've run forty four splits. I've run forty five splits multiple times. If I trained, I'm put like this. So dream Richards. He runs for Trinidad and Tobago. We trained together.

He is an.

Nineteen eight two hundred meter runner and he decided he was going to focus more than the four hundred this year. He was in that finals. Yeah he got four, right, maybe got four? Yeah, he got fourth with forty three seven new national record. I believe it's in the all time top ten, all time fastest times.

Fourth.

He got fourth. My fi R's nineteen three in the two hundred, and I have some pretty good strength on me as well. I truly would like to take a shot at the world record if I decided to move to the four hundred, truly and give it my one hundred percent for multiple years.

Yeah, I'm going after the world record if I'm If I'm.

On the world record in the two or the world record in the four.

In the four, I'm doing it in a serious well.

Noah, do you understand Do you understand those times forty three oh three in nineteen nineteen.

I'm gonna tell you this. My brain understands it. My body don't know the difference.

Oh wow, I like that. I like that difference.

Why would my body think that's a hard song. My body don't know that that's hard. If I keep telling it to get faster and faster, it's gonna try and adapt, It's gonna keep moving towards that time.

Can I ask you this, Noah, let's just say, for the sake of Arment twenty eight is gonna be here before you know it. So that's four years away, and I know your pride and I know your baby. You got the goal in the hundred meters, but you're really known as a two hundred meter guy. If you don't win the gold medal at the Olympics in the two hundred meters, what is Noah Lias gonna tell himself.

I'm going to tell myself. I'm stills. I'm still the man I was when I showed up and after I left. Of course, I want the gold and I'm gonna make sure that I tried my one hundred percent to get it done. But I will tell you that just because I don't have the gold, that doesn't make me less of a person. That doesn't make me less of a human being. That just means that I wasn't able to get the task that I set myself up for. But I will be so disappointed in myself if I didn't give it one hundred percent.

The world will be here if I'm not mistaken. The worlds are in Tokyo. That's gonna that's gonna be that's gonna be here before you know it.

And I'm already pre qualified because I'm the world championship in both, so I automatically get to buy.

So what are you you looking to defend your crown in the hundred and the two hundred?

Of course, I want the way I'm gonna see these next three years is I want to prefer effect how to handle the double. When I was going through the last cycle, Olympic cycle, I was trying to perfect how to make my two hundreds so good that I can run the hundred.

Now I've been able to have both of them. Now I want to say I want to be.

Prepared to run my fastest each and every round. I want to know that I want to know the hundred like the back of my hand. I want to know the two hundred like both of my hands. I want to make sure that I am fully prepared, creating blueprints going down each year, saying, hey, when we get to the Olympics, when we get to LA, we're going to be so prepared that no matter what is thrown at us, what we ready for it.

When you think about that, having to be able to go round by round, whether it be the hundred or two hundred, then you have competition, understanding everybody's strengths and weaknesses.

Then you have to push your.

Body to a point to where you can go round by round where you don't have to exert that much energy and you're that much better than everybody else. Do you I mean, when I sit here and think about it, do you understand how difficult a task that is to push your body to a point to where it's able to do that round by round and still win and run fast, but also come out on top and win the one and the two.

Of course, of course it's difficult. Of course everybody wants it. If it was easy, everybody would do it. Yeah, hold on, now, I'm not here to do the easy. I'm not here to do the mundane. That's not what excites me. I want to do the things that nobody's done, the things that are hard, the things that challenge my body. The reason I like to get up and practice every day is because I like to see what my body can truly do. What is what if I push it and do everything right to the fullest, what can happen? I want to see that every time.

No, can you provide some context?

There's this Time magazine story that came out that revealed that while you were negotiating your contract with Adidas, they offered you an invite to a shoe release for Anthony Edwards. And I think everybody's read to quote. Can you provide context? But what transpired? I mean, look, we don't need to get into negotiations, but what transpired? If what's being reported, how accurate is that?

So? What what was going on at the time? I was in negotiations for over a year with Adidas to get to get the contract.

Them offering me, you know, to go to as for shoe release, who had nothing to do with the contract. They just thought it would be cool that I would show up as one of their Adidas athletes.

Unfortunately agree.

They asked for it very late. They asked for it probably about two weeks in advance, and I was already scheduled to walk in the Hugo Boss show in Milan, which was a day and a half before his shoe release. So at first we were trying to figure out ways that we can get there, and it was like, yeah, this this.

This isn't good. This isn't gonna work.

There's no way that I'd be able to walk and then get on the flight and have energy enough to be able to go to this advan because it wasn't just so shoe released. They were also gonna, you know, have us go to a little baby concert and we were gonna be just signed.

It was gonna be a lot. It was gonna be a lot.

And I was already drained from you know, flying over already doing the fashion shows, doing the walks, you know, going to other events.

You know, I was already drowned like this, There's no way I'd be able to physically do this.

I know, I agree with you flying overseas as then it's someone that's flown overseas and then come back.

You kind of jet lag, but you probably shouldn't lift it.

Is that?

Is that the other stuff where you get into trouble, where people is picking apart what you said is because like, oh no, I'm the world champ and he's getting this and you have the wordwithal the forward thinking to see that he's gonna be special and why can't you guys see that with me?

Now?

I will say, being very vulnerable in this moment, I felt very unheard at that moment with the DNS, I felt very unheard. And we and and and to give an example, people do a lot of things. They what do you do when you feel on her? You try out louder? Yes, M And I felt that I have had many conversations trying to shout and it hadn't gotten through right. And unfortunately that was one of my moments where I felt I had to shout to even get them to look my way okay in that time article because they asked me if I wanted to take it out and I decided I was not going to because I had to stand on my decision. At that moment, I felt that I had to shout to get even a conversation about what I wanted to happen.

Or what was going on at that point to be to move forward? Could it be better?

Probably?

Was there more ways to do it? Probably?

But in that moment I felt that I had taken so many steps in other ways that I had to shout at this moment.

Let me let me ask this one and follow up. Do you regret your decision not to have that removed from the article?

I don't believe so at the moment. This conversation could be had in a year and I could have a different answer. At this moment, I do not feel so, because I still feel if I did not shout.

At that strument, I would not get preamble too. Oh, he is serious. And when I said it at the Olympics, they knew it was still on my heart.

Wait, Joe, No, I was. I was good.

I was good because you you hit, you hit on what I was? What I was going to piggyback and ask as well.

Another question, Noah.

In track and field, there's only been two men that's ever had a shoot, Michael Johnson and Usain Boat two. Uh. Michael Johnson had the world record in one hundred and the two hundred and he don't know anything but gold medals.

I think he's a.

Four time world champ in the four hundred, two time world champ in the two hundred, he's a two time champ and the four hundred, and he's one time champ in the two hundred. And you say, I just say you saying boat, I don't even say anything else. Yeah, what makes Why do you believe that you deserve to be in that category? With those guys looking at their accomplishments, not to say you're not done yet, but looking at their accomplishment accomplishments, looking at yours, Why did no allows believe he deserves to shoot?

The reason I believe it is twofold one. We look at Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson, he is a He's a track guy, through and through.

That's all.

He's track and he loves track, and that's what he decided his lane was going to be. I don't feel that in his time period, we had the social media, we had the marketing, the self marketing true to be able to push it forward. Of course, he had Nike, and Nike was doing very well, but they wanted to keep it. You know, I don't think that they really wanted to keep pushing it and I don't know if Michael Johnson wanted to do the work or not to market it as well as No, I don't know how much they they had in their contract to keep that shoe alive.

That's where I'm going to leave it with that.

The time period wasn't right with Usain Bolt, the CEO that actually gave the Bolt his shoe, is now what Adida is. And I've had conversations and I think you saying was very excited in the moment, and then he got excited about something else when it was time to do you know, the the underground work, the marketing, the commercials and stuff like that, and that scared a lot of companies I think in that moment. Also you saying is Jamaican. The marketing in the US is different. I feel one of our in the US is is that it turns out when it comes to marketing, entertainment and marketing is the US is bread and butter.

We know how to do that, like that's just our thing.

So now that I'm an American in a time period where its self, marketing is very popular and it's very you know, very prevalent. It's strong. You know, everybody wants to do it. Everybody's looking at it. They want the brand, they want the identity. You know, a person's identity is more marketed sometimes than a brand at times, and now we see them as brands. I know that I can do the work, I know that I can get the metals. But at the end of the day, I think that it comes down to guys. You now have the title of the world's fastest man.

What do you do with that title?

You tell them, don't you want to have the shoes of the world's fastest man. Don't you want to put those shoes on your feet. I'm wearing the same shoes as the world's fastest man. It's gonna make me so fast.

But the shoes that the world fastest man wears track spikes.

Not only only wears track spikes on the track, but he trains in tennis shoes. He came out, he's in tennis shoes. And when people go out and run marathons, they wear tennis shoes. And when you're in the gym, you wear tennis shoes. You wearing tennis shoes. Everybody wears tennis shoes. And the only reason that you don't see more marketing for tennis shoes and individual runners is because they just haven't done it. But why are we saying just because it hasn't been done mean it can't be done.

Yeah, I mean if it was, if it was gonna happen, the timing is now. It's timing is now. Especially while while the stove is hot is I'll call it right now, the stove is hot. You are the stove hot. You take advantage of that. And there's there's always a market for everything, no matter what it is. Everything is marketable, especially when it has the right push and people behind it, so there's.

Really no excuse on their end. And this is why we need.

Certain individuals in positions of power to make these things and transitions a little bit easier. And it shouldn't have to be a fight. We have to yell and scream all the goddamn time to get ship done.

Well you, uh no, You're gonna have to.

You're gonna have to start posting a little bit more on IG You saying has fourteen million IG follows, you got one point five?

Give us your I G handle you own I G and Twitter?

No Joe eighteen outllows Noah on Twitter? You know Joe eighteen on TikTok. You know, I mean you you're saying, has it has had his career. I'm still in the middle of my career.

Yeah, listen, go out and follow nor Allows at the at the app that he just gave you.

It's been a pleasure.

Three time world champion the two hundred meters, one time champion, one hundred meters at the World Olympic, gold medalists anchored the world the World Championship team last year.

Go ahead, o, Joe.

I do want to know before you go, how nervous would you be if you had to race me. I'm just curious. I'm just just thinking about it.

Race you.

I'm gonna be pretty nervous for you. I don't want you to catch cramp.

Oh no oh, this was hypothetical. I was just curious. I wanted to know how nervous you would be. But you think I would catch the cramp. But I drink, I drink pickle juice. I'll be fine.

Oh, Joe, I forgot, I forgot. We forgoten Tyreek Tyreek. Say you want someone you know him? I can't believe you know who Tyreek he is. Don't do that, Noah, you know.

I'm gonna be honest. I forget his name all the time.

I'm teet to be honest.

If it's not.

About track and it ain't about legal legends. My yeah, he's saying like this, Tyrie is just chasing Cloud the man. Anytime somebody fast comes up, he says he wants to race him. If he really wanted to race people, he would have showed up like DK me and the man in the sixty meters this year in the master's division, the man Dodger smoke, I don't got time for that.

Hey, Hey, Rinki calling you out.

Hey, you know what, Let's get a couple of said, let's see if we can get some sponsors. Would you be willing to race Rieka in a sixty or one hundred if we got some sponsors to put some money up.

Und we can raise if he if he's serious about it, If he's truly serious about it, I'm not talking about you just talking on the internet and you ain't actually coming to me and talking to my agent and saying, let's say something up. You are seriously about it, you'll see me on the track.

All right there, you ladies and gentlemen. The current fastest man in the world. No allows, nor thank you for giving us some of you. I appreciate you representation. Thanks for the opportunity, guys, so lou all right, we'll see you down the road.

Good luck. Hey, you got the meats coming up? Are you done for this year? You shutting it down or you can do for this year?

Man, I'm shutting it down.

Okay, all right, all right, best of luck, bro, and congratulations on one hundred meter goal. Bron's in the two hundred meters. Get healthy and we'll see you next year in the world. Good luck, Bro, Thank you, no allowed, ladies and gentlemen. That was that was that was awesome. It was great to have Noah on and to uh to get an opportunity to pick his brain and talk to him about the what he's what he's thinking going into one hundred meters uh, the COVID diagnosis, and being able to try to still go out there to compete for goal.

He ends up getting bronze.

Nothing to hang his head about with that, but a tremendous effort, great conversation, Oh Joe, very very forthcoming, didn't dodge anything. Every question that we set for answered it. And that's what that's all, that's all we can ask, that's all we can ask.