With our memories and attention spans now regulated by YouTube shorts and Instagram reels, forgetting what Simone Biles just did at the Summer Olympics may extend beyond a 45 second clip.
Having won the all-around competition on Thursday with a performance that even a bitter East German judge would love, the American gymnast is the new landlord of Paris.
Her time on the mat is just about done, both in France and for her career, which means there is a podium in our brains waiting to be occupied by someone else in the second week of the Summer Games.
America prides itself on its sprinters, and the USA track team has impatiently waited for its fastest legs to be just that, but Usain Bolt and his fleet of Jamaican friends ruined that for years. As much as these Olympics are about Simone securing her legacy as the greatest female gymnast ever, it should also be about the return of the dominant American sprinter. Should. Better be.
With track and field starting in Paris on Friday, these next few days should about the arrival of Sha’Carri Richardson of Desoto, and Noah Lyles. It is all set up for both. The American track community is counting on it.
The last time an American was the “fastest man alive” and won the 100 meter dash was 2004 when Justin Gaitlin won gold. Then came Bolt, who out ran everything but a cheetah all over the world until he retired in 2017.
At the 2021 Olympics, Marcell Jacobs of Italy beat Fred Kerley of the U.S. in front of no fans at the COVID games in Tokyo.
The last time an American was the fastest woman alive and won the 100 meter dash was 1996 when Gail Devers won gold in Atlanta.
An American woman has won three silver medals in the 100 since then, but no gold. This is by far the longest stretch an American woman has not won the gold medal in the 100 meter dash since it started in 1928.
Noah Lyles’ “Time”
Lyles is 27, in his prime, and this 100 meters is his race to win.
“If you draw the basketball analogy of who is better, ‘Jordan or Kobe,’ you can’t because you have to let people live in their own eras and stand for themselves,” veteran NBC track and field commentator Lewis Johnson said in a recent phone interview.
“Carl Lewis was amazing. Usain Bolt is amazing. Now it’s Noah Lyles’ ‘amazing’ era. There is no reason to compare him to anybody else. His natural personality. He’s on a mission. That talent that he has the personality, he is one of the few athletes who understands crossing into other areas.”
Johnson is speaking specifically of Lyles’ flair for fashion, which is more suited for a Parisian runway, or Hollywood red carpet, than Stade de France.
Combine the fashion, the flair and a gold in the 100 meter dash, and Lyles could become one of those rare American runners who is a household name. There aren’t many; Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Jim Ryun, and maybe Maurice Greene.
“(Lyles) is a consummate pro and what the sport needs,” Johnson said. “He ran at the Jamaica meet last year, and when he finished Usain Bolt came down, dapped him up and he whispered in his ear, ‘The sport needs you. Keep this up.’
“We need someone to be ‘the next one.’ It was like Usain Bolt asking him to take the reigns. That had to be a big moment.”
Sha’Carri’s Wait is Over
Sha’Carri has had no such moments, but she should have had a few beginning in 2021. She is the closest thing we’ve seen since Florence Griffith-Joyner became “Flo Jo” at the Olympics in Korea in 1988.
There are moments when you watch Sha’Carri and you could swear it’s Flo Jo. The hair. The flair. The bounce in her stride. Out-running anything.
After qualifying for those ‘21 Olympics Richardson failed a drug test for cannabis. She never made it to Tokyo.
She said the reason she took it was she had recently learned her biological mother had died. Her supporters said to ban her over a substance that would have no effect on performance was a needless reach. Then there were those in the track community who said she knew the rules, and that’s that.
She was livid, and she took her complaints to Twitter to say that the decision was rooted in race.
“Three years ago she was battling things we’ll never understand,” Johnson said. “She had burst on to the scene. … when I see her now, I see a young woman who has grown more into her skin and she’s embracing the crowd and her talent.
“I find her to be much more confident and comfortable. As a father and a parent I am happy to see this maturity young woman growing up and mature and really embrace all of it.”
America has been impatiently waiting for a man and a woman to be the fastest in the world again.
There is no Bolt in sight, and top of the podium awaits.
