Why did Noah Lyles get a yellow card? Olympic sprinter penalized at start of 200m final race

PARIS, FRANCE: Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles was given a yellow card while performing in the finals of the men's 200-meter at the 2024 Paris Olympics for violating Technical Rule 7.1, which details 'improper conduct'.

Lyles secured his first-ever Olympic gold medal after winning the 100-meter event. For the 200-meter race, he was up against big names such as Letsile Tebogo, Kenny Bednarek, and Erriyon Knighton.

Noah Lyles gets a yellow card for 'improper conduct'

There was controversy surrounding the news that Noah Lyles had decided to race even after a positive Covid diagnosis but that was not why he received a yellow card. He received a yellow card for 'improper conduct'.

Before the race as Lyles's name was announced, he jumped around to hype up the crowd, yelling and running in a way that is a feature of his over-the-top persona. In doing so, Noah smacked the box in his lane that had a speaker attached to it.

The speaker is designed in such a way that it makes sure all athletes hear the starting gun go off simultaneously so that no one has an unfair starting advantage. As Noah knocked off the box, the number fell off of it, and he was handed a yellow card for violating Technical Rule 7.1, which details 'improper conduct'.

Notably, Noah ended the 200-meter race in 3rd place winning himself a bronze medal as Tebogo and Bednarek won gold and silver respectively.

When NBC's Leigh Diffey botched Noah Lyles' historic 100m victory

Noah Lyles won gold at the 100-meter final on Sunday, August 4, at the Paris Olympics but his moment was botched by NBC announcer Leigh Diffey who erroneously called Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson the winner.

Lyles marked the closest Olympic 100m finish in modern history as he finished the race in 9.79 seconds to claim gold in a dramatic men's 100m final.

As the 100m race finished, the cameras moved to Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson and Diffey ended up announcing, "Jamaica's gonna do it, Kishane Thompson is a gold medalist, on debut."

The athletes crowded together and were anticipating photographs of their finish. The photos showed that Lyles had won the race by the slimmest of margins. Lyles' win secured the USA's first gold medal in the 100 meters in the last 2 decades, earning him the title of the fastest man in the world.

After the race, he said, "It's the one I wanted. It's the hard battle, it's the amazing opponents. Everybody's healthy, everybody came prepared for the fight and I wanted to prove that I'm the man amongst all of them. I'm the wolf amongst wolves."