Noah Lyles knows he’s not for everybody — and he’s perfectly fine with that.
The Team USA track and field star, who spoke exclusively to Us Weekly via his partnership with Tide, responded in jest to some of the criticism he faced for showing up to the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony with the word “ICON” painted across his nails.
“I’m a person who knows that a lot of people have different opinions and they have them for different reasons,” Lyles, 27, told Us via Zoom from the Olympic Village in Paris. “To be honest, I’m so confident in myself that it doesn’t really matter. I think it’s funny at times.”
Once Lyles showed up on the Seine in his Team USA regalia and painted nails, comments began rolling in on social media.
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One person posted via X, “I genuinely don’t have a problem with Noah Lyles. I like the energy he brings to the sport. But that painting of the nails s–t [is]for the ladies bruh.” Another wrote, “Noah Lyles has his nails painted …This is just at the halfway point of the opening ceremony. Disturbing thus far.”
Painting his nails is nothing new for Lyles, who rocked a different set at the Olympic Trials in June and at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in February.
“Sometimes it’s like, ‘Hey, I know you were brought up this way, but I was brought up that way,’ and the fact that you can’t see the differences of why I might do it, I find that entertaining,” Lyles explained. “You know, people like me because I do this. I’m just being myself.”
Lyles has certainly never shied away from the attention, embracing his role as a sprinter with swagger. But he acknowledged his persona can sometimes be met with resistance.
“The most misunderstood thing is the balance between cocky and confident,” Lyles said. “There is a strong line that people assume my confidence is cockiness. I will say this. Anybody who thought I was cocky and met me, they’re instantly like, ‘Oh, that’s the nicest, coolest guy I’ve ever met in my life.’”
Lyles continued, “I never blame anybody who thinks that I’m cocky. It’s just a ‘you haven’t met me situation.’ That’s all.”
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On Saturday, August 3, Lyles will take to the track for the men’s 100m heats, to be followed by the final the following day. The men’s 200m heats go down Monday, August 5, with the final on Tuesday, August 6.
In the meantime, Lyles is staying clean in the Olympic Village thanks to his new partnership.
“I go through so much laundry, I’m gonna need Tide,” Lyles said. “I mean, I’m a track and field athlete. Just yesterday, I was training and my coach was talking about the stains on my outfits. Olympians get stains, too! We all need to wash our clothes.”
Lyles and 10-time Olympic medalist Carl Lewis came together for Tide’s 2024 Summer Olympics campaign called “Stains Happen to the Best of Us,” which can be viewed here.
