COVID-STRICKEN Noah Lyles was yellow carded and taken out in a wheelchair as he missed out on an epic Olympic sprint double.
Jamaica legend Usain Bolt won 100m and 200m gold at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
And Lyles, 27, was aiming to follow in his footsteps with another thrilling victory in Paris.
But in truth, he was always trailing Letsile Tebogo, who claimed Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in a staggering 19.46 seconds – five days after Julien Alfred secured Saint Lucia’s maiden gold in the women’s 100m final.
That was also the fifth-fastest time ever recorded in history – behind only Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Lyles and Michael Johnson.
After his stunning 100m victory on Sunday – winning by 0.005 seconds in a dramatic photo finish – American Lyles only qualified as third fastest for the 200m final.
His 20.08 seconds time was beaten by both Tebogo (19.96) and Bednarek (20.00).
But many expected the ultimate showman Lyles to turn on the style when it mattered most.
The 200m world champion came bounding out once again, jumping up and down along the track before settling into his blocks in lane five – but only after kicking them, earning himself a yellow card for “improper conduct”.
Lyles got a quick start however Tebogo, 21, flew out of the blocks and never looked in trouble.
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Lyles did his best to chase down Bednarak down the home straight but the gap was too much as the superstar American crossed in 19.70 seconds and settled for another bronze in the 200m – just like in Tokyo three years ago.
He looked sluggish in the closing stages and collapsed on the track afterwards clearly struggling to breathe as medics came to his aid, pulling him away in a wheelchair.
It then transpired he had Covid – despite hugging compatriot Bednarek at the end.
Lyles admitted that he he started having symptoms of Covid on Tuesday.
He said: “I woke up about 5am on Tuesday morning and was feeling really horrible.
“I knew it was more than being sore from the 100m. We woke up the doctors and tested, and unfortunately it came up that I was positive for Covid.
“My first thought was not to panic. I’ve been in worse situations, I’ve run with worse conditions I’ve felt.
“We just took it day by day, tried to hydrate, quarantined off and I would definitely say it’s taken it’s toll for sure.
“But I’ve never been more proud of myself to come out here and get a bronze medal. Last Olympics I was very disappointed and this time I couldn’t be more proud.”
The sprinter insisted that he never doubted that he would be competing in the race and that he is currently not sure about his place in the relay.
He added: “No. We were just going to try and quarantine as much as possible, stay away, not pass it off and give it my all.
“If I wasn’t to make it and somebody was able to take my spot, that would’ve been my sign that I didn’t deserve to be in the final.
“At the moment, I don’t know. I’m feeling more on the side of letting Team USA do their thing.
“They’re proven with great certainty that they can handle it without me.
“If that’s the case coming off of today, I’m perfectly fine with saying ‘you guys do your thing, you guys have speed to be able to get the gold medal’.”
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson insisted that Lyles was not carrying an injury due to the time he still managed to achieve.
Speaking on the BBC, he said: “He certainly isn’t carrying an injury because you can’t do this with an injury, you can’t run 19.70.
“If there’s anything, there’s some sort of illness that has zapped his energy from the ability to actually carry that speed all the way through.
“[The medics] would’ve given him the OK to race, he’s probably not in danger of anything by racing other than being 100 percent and able to perform the way that he would want to.”
Tebogo’s mum died in May and the champ had her date of birth on his trainers and said: “It was really a beautiful race for me.
Mum is watching up there, and she’s really, really happy. I didn’t want to put the date of her death, because I’ll get emotional.
“I took about three weeks to a month without doing anything. It wasn’t really clicking for me that she’s really gone.”
Some of Lyles fans were still impressed with his efforts despite suffering from Covid.
One posted: “Noah Lyles winning bronze with Covid might be more impressive than the gold. Covid had my lungs in hell.”
A second wrote: “People who miss two weeks of work with Covid while Noah Lyles wins a bronze medal while running with Covid.”
A third commented: “Noah Lyles was able to win bronze while having covid… props to him.”
