Olympic heroes like Noah Lyles go for the only gold they care about: the one in League of Legends

Noah Lyles, in essence, is a superhero. The sprinter already has enough gold to establish his personal Bretton Woods System, and he just won another one in the men's hundred metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But that's okay, because our man has his eye on the prize: he wants to get past all of this running nonsense, and get down to the sport of champions - League of Legends (via NME). Lyles recently mentioned his love for League of Legends in a Twitter exchange. Pau Echaniz, a Spanish Olympic canoeist, tweeted that he would not "get on a boat until I reach gold" with a photo of League on a gaming computer placed next to his bronze medal in the men's single kayak event at the Paris Olympics.

Lyles responded quickly: "This bout will be me after the four-by-100m," tweeted Lyles. The official Twitter account of the game was quick to respond, tweeting: "Fastest Man in the World Plays League... Rammus Main Confirmed."

Is there any link between LoL performance and athletic performance? Could I also reach peak physical condition if I dedicated time to a MOBA? The answer is, of course, yes.

Lyles has not been a League player for the first time. He showed off his League-themed PC on YouTube last year, and has a documented love of other nerdy treasures such as Yu-Gi-Oh or Dragonball Z.

On the one hand, this is fantastic. It's natural that athletes like Lyles, who grew up playing videogames as a child, would find them more appealing. On the other hand? I liked it when people stereotyped videogame fans as being out of shape. It made me feel as if I had an explanation.

The bad news is that Lyles was forced to withdraw from the 4x100m race after contracting Covid. This must have been a crushing blow. I hope that the silver lining will be that he can get back to his League Career a little quicker. America wants golds. What's the difference if you're racing or playing Summoner's Rift.