Paris (AFP)
American sprinter Noah Lyles revealed Wednesday in Monaco that his psychological disorders began at the age of eight before worsening in April under the combined effects of the coronavirus, the postponement of the Olympics and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Lyles, the 200m world champion, revealed on August 2, on Twitter, that he was on antidepressants. "I've been living with this since I was eight," said the 23-year-old sprinter two days before the Monaco Diamond League meeting.
“It took different forms in several periods of my life but it got worse in April. It had never been so hard. It was like a perfect storm: you had to live with the Covid, the postponement of the Olympics and it there was the Black Lives Matter movement, which was the last nail in the coffin. "
"My mother told me it was time to put me on medication. I said yes because everything I was doing, and which was working until then, was not working anymore," he added. Lyles also explained that he is followed by two therapists, "one athletic, the other personal".
"Recently, I decided to take antidepressants. It was one of the best decisions of my life. Since then, I have been able to think without dark waves in my mind," he wrote in early August on Twitter .
The new star of the US sprint shines both by his performances and by his cheerful personality in front of the cameras (permanent smile, dances, daring hair dyes ...).
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