American sprinter Noah Lyles came away from Paris with two gold medals at the 2024 Olympics, including one in the men's 100-meter dash. It's been a long road to get there for the acclaimed runner, especially considering his “strict” religious upbringing.
Lyles has had a complicated relationship with religion and faith, and he first expressed it in a post-Olympics appearance Everyone Wants To Be Us podcast. He told a “fast religious story” that was bumpy to say the least.
“I actually grew up in a cult,” Lyles bluntly stated, immediately bursting into laughter. He went on to explain what it was really like.
“It was a cult. It wasn't just at the level of 'Yeah, we'll drink the Kool-Aid,'” she explained. “But it was very strict. All the mothers had to homeschool their children, and the father was the head of the household, and the church told you who you could date [and] who you can't date. If you get married, it's supposed to be through us—that kind of behavior.”
His parents knew something was wrong, but their faith was fine.
“We left and that’s why we moved to North Carolina because we were planning on starting another church, but we found out they wanted to do the same thing but they wanted to be the head, not the tail, so we left there,” he recounted.
“It really ruined my view of the church, and it certainly ruined my mother’s view,” he concluded. “She never lost faith in religion, and I think the fact that she instilled that in us at a young age made it easier for me to move forward on my own journey.”
Lyles’ victory in Paris despite his COVID diagnosis undoubtedly begs the question of his divine protection.