I had depression in Tokyo and the devil trying to whisper sweet nothings in my ear - US sprint sensation Noah Lyles is using his 2021 turmoil to fuel glory in Paris by winning Olympic gold

You will most likely know him as the trash-talking, vest-ripping, gold medal-winning sprinter-showman. The American who boasts of having 'main character energy', plays the starring role in a new Netflix series and is now set to be the headline act at the Olympics.

There is, though, another side to Noah Lyles, a vulnerability beneath the bravado. Indeed, on his last appearance at the Games, the athlete who usually lights up the track was trapped in darkness.

'I was depressed,' admits Lyles about his time at Tokyo 2020. 'I was coming off my antidepressant medication at the time because I was gaining weight in an unnatural way. There was a lot going on.

'It was a real fake-it-to-make-it year for me. I watched back my race in Tokyo and I was like, "I really don't know that guy. I don't know who that is but it's not Noah".

'It is kind of scary at times. Just even seeing my mannerisms. I am like, "Why did I do that? What was I thinking at that time?". Every day I wake up now and thank God that I am not in that scenario.'

Tokyo was not the first time Lyles has struggled. In fact, he has been in and out of therapy since the age of 10, having been bullied at school for having yellow teeth, caused by medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as suffering from asthma and dyslexia.

Lyles's mental health really nosedived, though, in 2020, caused by the combination of the Covid pandemic, the uncertainty and then postponement of the Olympics, and the reaction to the killing of George Floyd. When the Tokyo Games eventually took place behind closed doors in 2021, he could only claim a bronze medal in the 200m despite winning the world title in 2019. 

In the 100m, he did not even make the US team.

Fast-forward three years, and Lyles is the 100m and 200m world champion and loving life, on and off the track. The secret to his new-found happiness? 'A lot of therapy,' the 26-year-old tells Mail Sport. 'I have two therapists. One is my sports therapist, the other is my personal therapist for life beyond the track.

'There is a fear in the back of my mind that it (depression) will come back. But every time I think that, I am like, "I am so much better, I am in such a great place". I just chalk that up as the devil trying to whisper sweet nothings in my ear.'

While that devil had a hold of Lyles three years ago, he believes that pain of Tokyo is the driving force for what has happened since. In 2022, he defended his 200m world title in Eugene, where he celebrated Incredible Hulk-style by ripping open his US vest. 

Then, 12 months later in Budapest, he became the first man since Usain Bolt to complete the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay sprint treble at a World Championships.

'That bronze still burns a hole in my chest,' admits Lyles, who set a new personal best of 9.81sec to win the 100m at the London Diamond League. 'I will be carrying it around during Paris just to remind me this is not the colour we are coming back with.

'It has never been a secret that I was disappointed with how 2021 went and how much of a fire it lit in my belly. It was the catalyst for everything that has happened after.

'I truly believe that at some point in another alternative universe if I had won that gold medal, I would have become complacent in my ability, and I wouldn't have seen as much growth as I have in the last two years.' 

Growth as a sprinter but also as a celebrity. As well as his lead role in the new Netflix documentary Sprint, which follows the world's fastest men and women, Lyles has appeared on The Tonight Show and is on the cover of this month's Time magazine.

Lyles does not like being compared to Bolt, but he is undoubtedly the first athlete since the Jamaican retired in 2017 who has the stardust required to transcend the sport. He now just needs an Olympic gold medal to elevate his fame to the next level and make him an icon - the word he has tattooed on his torso.

'I have been shocked with the attention the Netflix show has got,' says Lyles. 'I am running past high schoolers and they are like, "Yo, that's Noah Lyles, let me get a picture". Droves of high-school kids. I don't know if I can go out by myself any more!

'But getting it done at the Olympics would up the ante and put me in a position where I can demand a few more things.'

Such is Lyles's pivotal part in Sprint, he has worked closely with producers Box to Box, who made Formula 1: Drive to Survive, on his storylines for the second series, which is currently being filmed. Lyles, though, is not only interested in boosting his own popularity, but athletics as a whole.

'We have been working a lot closer into trying to truly make it an interesting story, so that when people watch the show, they are going to say, "Oh my gosh, I have to watch the next track meet",' reveals Lyles. 'We want people to be entertained and not only me becoming more popular, but also having the chance for more athletes to become just as popular.

'My ambition is my ambition, my joy is my joy and my goals are my goals, but it just so happens that one of my goals is to see track and field succeed and be better than when I joined it.'

When Mail Sport first met Lyles last December, he set out his blueprint to boost the profile of the sport, which included hosting four major annual events around the world, like in tennis. That vision has now become a reality after American legend Michael Johnson recently launched Grand Slam Track, which will see four meets hosted each year, where athletes can each win $100,000 (£77,000).

American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and British middle-distance star Josh Kerr have become the first athletes to sign up for the big-money series. Will Lyles be the next to join?

'I can't say if I will or will not be a part of it yet,' he replies. 'I am still in negotiations with them but there is a lot of good that is being created by it. I am very happy to see it because the last thing that I want is that nothing gets done.

'There is a general want for change and an excitement for a new venture in the track space. I hope that it's going to breed great fortune for everybody.'

Lyles has long championed the need for athletes to be better rewarded, so he backs World Athletics' controversial decision to offer prize-money of $50,000 (£38,600) for Olympic gold medallists.

'I am very proud to see World Athletics step up because it's not their job to do that, it's the job of the IOC (International Olympic Committee),' he says. 'I got so many messages after it came out saying, "Y'all don't get paid already?". The other one was, "I would think a gold medal would be worth more than that". That's a conversation we need to have.'

Another conversation is around athletics' problem with doping, something that has dogged the sport for decades. At the last Olympics, Great Britain were stripped of their 4x100m relay silver medal after CJ Ujah tested positive for two banned substances and was subsequently banned for 22 months.

The shock 100m winner in Tokyo, Marcell Jacobs, also faced awkward questions after it emerged his former nutritionist Giacomo Spazzini was implicated in a police investigation into the distribution of steroids. He was later cleared in a criminal court and Jacobs has never been accused of wrongdoing.

Does Lyles believe all his opponents are clean? 'I can't prove it and it's not my job to prove it,' he says. 'Of course I am going to have some suspicions, but if you are on the line, I am going to assume you are clean and it's my job to beat you. Even if you are not clean, I believe I am such a good athlete that I should be able to beat you.'

Lyles' time at the London Stadium yesterday was only the third fastest in the world this year. Kishane Thompson is the quickest man on the planet in 2024, registering 9.77sec to win the Jamaican trials, while Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala has clocked 9.79sec.

Lyles, though, is confident he will be fastest at the Stade de France. He is eyeing up Tyson Gay's American record of 9.69sec in the 100m, the event he calls his 'mistress', as well as Bolt's world record of 19.19sec in the 200m, the race he refers to as his 'wife'.

'I am in the best shape of my life,' he insists. 'I am seeing times in training I don't usually see. In the 100m, the American record is constantly on my mind. In the 200m, 19.10 is definitely the goal.

'In the indoor season, I improved my 60m time by 1.02 per cent. If I add that on to the 100m, I should break the record. And if I add that to the 200m, I should run 19.10.'

For Lyles, though, it is medals not records that count. As long ago as December, he revealed he wanted to add the 4x400m relay to his programme in a bid to win four golds in Paris - something even Bolt did not achieve. However, when he then ran a 4x400m leg at the World Indoors in Glasgow in March, it caused a storm in the US, with other athletes and coaches complaining of 'favouritism'.

That appears to have put his dream in doubt, but Lyles insists: 'Anyone who is on the US team can be in the relay pool. It's the relay coaches' decision. If they want to use me, I am here. I am not going to have hurt feelings about it.'

Whether or not the quadruple remains possible, the treble is certainly on. And after the empty stadiums of Japan, Lyles is relishing the prospect of performing in front of a full house in France.

'I am a showman, so I need an audience, intensity, pressure,' he adds. 'The more eyes on me, the better I perform. As soon as I get on the stage when the TV is on and people are watching, I ain't losing. The big moments are what I live for.

'Showing up to Tokyo and just hearing an empty stadium, an echo, it was surreal. But Paris is going to feel the complete opposite. Everything is going to be heightened up to a new level.

'The Olympics is the pinnacle, and I don't have an Olympic gold medal right now. But after Budapest, it's like, "We have done this before, now we are going to do it again".'