Noah Lyles knew what he was doing. He probably turned the head of every nerd in the United States when he pulled out a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from Yu-Gi-Oh! before the U.S. Olympic track and field trials on Saturday.
As it turns out, while Lyles seems to be a huge fan of the trading card game (and animated show), he apparently had a very good reason for showing off part of his collection. The American sprinter had made a bet with U.S. thrower Chase Ealey over her apparent love of Naruto. In exchange for Lyles pulling out a different Yu-Gi-Oh! card before every round of the American Olympic trials, Ealey will wear the famous Rock Lee leg weights during her finals.
It’s one of the more fascinating bets I’ve ever heard of from two high-level athletes:
Noah Lyles shares the full story behind the viral video of him pulling out a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card.
Credit: CITIUS MAG #遊戯王 #YuGiOh #유희왕 pic.twitter.com/blfLkzBfT5
— YuGiOh News (@YuGiOhNewsTCG) June 23, 2024
In my opinion, we need more Olympians who embrace their nerdiness in front of us. Imagine if Katie Ledecky was a big Pokémon fan and bragged about catching a legendary “shiny” on TV. What if Simone Biles talked about the various campaigns she had going with friends in Dungeons & Dragons?
What a glorious (ideal) reality.
For now, I sure hope Ealey eventually honors her side of her bet with Lyles. It’d be pretty amusing to see the Rock Lee weights realized during an important Olympic event.
