Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles opens up about his 'messed up' experience growing up in a cult

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA: After his triumphant performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, track-and-field sensation Noah Lyles is opening up about a surprising part of his past.

"I actually grew up in a cult," the 27-year-old athlete candidly shared on the 'Everybody Wants to Be Us' podcast. “It was a cult. It just wasn’t at the level of, ‘Yeah, OK. We’re gonna drink the Kool-Aid'. But it was super strict."

Noah Lyles reveals past involvement in a controlling group

Noah Lyles who won a bronze in the 200-meter sprint and a gold medal in the 100-meter race, grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. He was born in Gainesville, Florida, but moved to Virginia with his family after his parents Kevin Lyles and Keisha Lyles divorced.

In Alexandria, he attended TC Williams High School, where he began to excel in track and field, eventually becoming a standout sprinter

Without naming the group, Lyles delved into his experience, saying, "All the moms had to be homeschooling their kids and the father was the head of the household, and the church told you who you could date, who you couldn’t date. If you got married, it had to be through [them]. That type of behavior."

The strictness eventually drove Lyles and his family to leave the organization and move to North Carolina. "We were going to start [at] another church, only to figure out they wanted to do the same thing except they wanted to be the head instead of, not the tail," he recalled.

"So, we left that, but that kind of really messed up my view [of the] church, and it definitely messed up my mom’s view, so it took her a long time. And even now, she still struggles to trust churches in general, but she never lost her faith in the religion."

Noah Lyles opens up about rediscovering faith after struggles

The gold medalist admitted that his faith wavered after the experience, but it was his mother, Keisha Caine, who guided him back to his beliefs with some powerful advice.

"Everybody gets that idea of, you know, ‘Is there really a God?’" he shared. "And something that I love is when I was young, she said, ‘God says when you lack faith, ask for a test, and he will provide the test',” he noted. “And I was like, ‘OK, I’m gonna ask for the test'."

In ninth grade, facing a bout of swine flu right before the World Youth track-and-field team trials, Lyles asked for his "test."

“[I said], ‘God, if you can provide me a way to make this team, I’m not gonna deny it anymore that this is your plan'. I made the team,” he shared.

“I was the youngest person to make the team, and I made the team as an alternate but got to run and made it all the way to being ranked ninth in the world. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m sold'.”

Reflecting on his approach to the men’s 200-meter final while battling Covid, Lyles shared in an August 11 interview with People, “[I was like] ‘Let’s try and keep this as normal as possible', knowing that I’ve handled stuff like this in the past," adding, "I’ve run very close to after having contracted Covid, many times."

He added, “[It’s about] knowing that I was made for moments like this and I’ve trained all my life. I know that I can go out there and still put on a great performance, and it’s an all-or-nothing scenario because nothing is promised tomorrow. So, I might as well take advantage of today.”