In a heart-stopping moment that had sports fans on the edge of their seats, Kishane Thompson was declared the Olympic champion in the men’s 100m sprint, but only for a fleeting moment and only to viewers in the United States. As the athletes surged towards the finish line in a nail-bitingly close race, NBC’s Leigh Diffey was the first to call the race, his excitement palpable as he announced, “Jamaica’s going to do it! Kishane Thompson is a gold medallist!” A fleeting victory because it wasn’t Thompson who won but Noah Lyles.
Olympic drama: It was Lyles, not Thompson
However, the celebration was premature. Other broadcasters, like the BBC in the UK, exercised caution and waited for the official photo finish results before announcing the winner. When the results were in, it was Noah Lyles of the USA who emerged victorious, clinching the gold medal in one of the closest races in Olympic history.
On Monday, Diffey took to social media to acknowledge his mistake, expressing his genuine belief that Thompson had won and congratulating Lyles on his remarkable achievement. “The men’s 100 was epic & closest of all time! My eyes & instinct told me Kishane Thompson won,” he wrote. “Obviously, that wasn’t the case. I am thrilled for @LylesNoah as his story only gets bigger!”
Diffey, who has an international background having grown up in Australia and later moved to the UK and the US for his career, is known for his coverage of motorsports as well as the Olympics for NBC.
Interestingly, Diffey wasn’t the only one who thought Thompson had won; even Lyles himself admitted he believed he had been narrowly beaten. “After the race, we were waiting for the names to pop up and I’m going to be honest, I came over, I was like ‘I think you got the Olympics, dawg.’ He was in lane 4, I was in lane 7, so I couldn’t really see what was happening,” Lyles shared. “I continued to run like I would win it. Something told me: ‘I need to lean.’ It is that type of race. It was crazy.”
The race between Kishane Thompson and Noah Lyles in the men’s 100m sprint at the Olympics was a dramatic and closely contested event that unfolded differently from the perspectives of the athletes and commentators.
From the perspective of the athletes, both Thompson and Lyles experienced the race as a high-stakes, high-speed battle. Thompson, running in lane 4, and Lyles, in lane 7, were among the top contenders. As they surged towards the finish line, the race was incredibly tight, with neither athlete clearly ahead. Lyles himself admitted that he thought Thompson had won, as he couldn’t see what was happening in the other lanes due to their positions on the track. Both athletes gave their all, with Lyles mentioning that he continued to run as if he would win and even leaned at the finish line, sensing the closeness of the race.
This race was a testament to the unpredictable nature of sprinting at the elite level, where victories can be decided by mere fractions of a second, and the excitement and tension can lead to even experienced commentators making premature calls.
Fans can look forward to more thrilling moments from Lyles, as he is also competing for gold in the 200m, 4x100m, and possibly the 4x400m events this week. Diffey, undoubtedly, will be watching closely, ready to call the race with the precision of a seasoned sports commentator, hoping to get Lyles’s finishing position right this time.