The fastest man in the world took the gold medal at the Olympic Games by 5 thousandths of a second! It took the “VAR” from the photo finish to determine the Olympic champion in the 100 meters

The gold medal in the men’s 100 meters was decided at the Olympic Games in Paris by just five thousandths of a second.

American athlete Noah Lyles is the new Olympic champion of the 100 meters event, winning the gold medal by just five thousandths.

The “VAR” from the photo finish decided the Olympic champion in the 100m, with the Olympic champion winning the gold by just five thousandths

American Noah Lyles won Olympic 100m final to the whisker, Sunday, August 4, Stade de France, in 9.79, just five thousandths of a second faster than Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson. Another American, Fred Kerley, completed the podium after a final of unprecedented intensity.

It was undoubtedly a race for history! Noah Lyles put his name in the golden book of the Olympic Games, after winning the title at the World Championship held last year in Budapest.

To decide who crossed the finish line first, the organizers had to set aside the tenths and hundredths and calculate the thousandths of a second.

First Olympic gold medal won by an American athlete in 20 years

And the “VAR” from the photo finish decided: Lyles ran the distance in 9.784, and the Jamaican in 9.789. The only consolation for Kishane Thompson is that he still holds a season-best time of 9.77.

But it is Lyles, who finished second in both the qualifying and semi-final heats, who claims the title of “sprint king”.

“I am the fastest man in the world, because this qualification goes to the 100m world champion, which I am, and to the Olympic champion, which I will soon be,” he said, after gaining access to the last act of the event .

It is the first Olympic gold medal won by an American athlete since Justin Gatlin in 2004. Later, the honors went to Jamaican Usain Bolt (in 2008, 2012 and 2016) and Italian Marcell Jacobs (2021).

The closest Olympic 100m final in the competition’s history

In the Paris final, the other places in the 100m final were occupied by Fred Kerley (United States, 9.81), South Africa’s Akani Simbine (9.82), Jacobs (9.85), the athlete from Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (9.86), American Kenny Bednarek (9.88) and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (9.91).

It was the closest Olympic 100m final in the competition’s history. Never before has there been a difference of only 14 hundredths between the first and last athlete to finish the race.