"Me being co**y"- Noah Lyles reveals the most misunderstood aspect about himself amid dominance on the global circuit

Noah Lyles spoke about the most misunderstood aspect of himself in his latest interview. The American athlete recently concluded his campaign at the World Championships in Tokyo and extended his dominance in the men's 200m once again.

He concluded his campaign with two gold medals and one silver medal. Before the biggest track meet of the year, Noah Lyles had expressed his confidence in being able to win the gold medal and extend his unbeaten streak in the 200m event. Along with the bold claim, Noah Lyles shared that he will try to break Usain Bolt's long-standing world record in the event that has been unbroken since 2009.

Such statements often brought hate messages towards Noah Lyles, and he opened up about common misconceptions about his life in an appearance on Speakeasy with Emmanuel Acho. Lyles expressed that such statements are a testament to his confidence rather than his arrogance.

"It's probably uh me being co**y because in reality it's me just having confidence. It's just y'all don't understand the things that I've had to go through to be at this point to know why I'm so confident. And at the end of the day, the reason that they get mad is cuz I keep doing the things that I say that I'm going to do," he said. (15:08 onwards)

Moreover, Lyles expressed that people have a different perception of him when they meet him personally.

"But when they actually end up meeting me, they they're like, 'Oh, wow. This man is actually super down-to-earth.' He's, you know, tries to help everybody. He does all these things, but you only get to see me for 19 seconds. You only get to see the competitive Noah. You know, the 9 seconds, the short little interviews," he added.

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Noah Lyles on being confident after struggles in his early life

Lyles competes at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 - Source: Getty

Noah Lyles expressed his thoughts about being confident after facing struggles in his early life. The American athlete shared that he was struggling with asthma and dyslexia, which made schooling harder for him.

The Olympic gold medalist expressed that he started to feel like a confident individual only when he graduated from high school and worked within his passion.

"Most of my childhood, confidence was not my thing. It's just you know never followed me, I was either trying to just breathe with asthma, you know, or going from home school to regular school and realizing I got ADD and dyslexia, making school harder," he said (as quoted by the Indian Express)

Furthermore, Lyles shared how building confidence helped him to develop self-belief and excel as an athlete in his track career.