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Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif
Having been at odds with the NBA for several years, Noah Lyles resents the preferential treatment given to basketball players. He recently used the example of Anthony Edwards to illustrate his grievances with his equipment supplier, Adidas.
“World champion of what?” This phrase made headlines almost two years ago, and it was told by Noah Lyles. Unhappy to see NBA franchises crown themselves world champions in the event of a title, the American sprinter had thus alienated a lot of people within his own country.
Starting with the NBA stars, as everyone saw at the Paris Olympics, especially after players like Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard had already responded harshly to his comments. The team members had traveled specifically to follow the runner’s performances, but it wasn’t necessarily to encourage him, unlike usual…
Noah Lyles annoyed by Anthony Edwards’ treatment at Adidas
While the beef between the two camps has calmed down in recent months, don’t think it’s over. Crowned olympic 100m champion in Paris, Lyles is particularly brooding over the preferential treatment given to basketball players by equipment manufacturers, even though he’s the main superstar in his sport, which isn’t the case for the players in question. He didn’t hold back on the Funky Friday podcast:
I said, “Anthony Edwards has a shoe”, and I’m already a six-time world champion, and I’m prophesying that I’m going to be the Olympic champion. I believe I’ve done enough to prove that my worth is given a signature shoe, or at least having the conversation of it. They said that’s not their department, yada yada yada, dancing around the conversation. At the time, I was frustrated with them. Still am, that’s another story about how they didn’t even want to have the conversation of it.
All the more frustrating for him because he needs this support to exist in his sport:
If I leave, I’m giving up the advantage of product. I need spikes to run in. Adidas makes some of the best spikes in the world. I need trainers to run in. There are rules by the governing body of track and field that you have to be okayed by these brands. So, the shoe companies know that. They know that you’re going to have to come back to them.
My training group is an Adidas-only training group. If I’m not an Adidas athlete, I can’t even train there. I would lose my coach that I’ve been with for nine years, that’s coached me to six world championships.
