SAINT-DENIS, France — Once again, Noah Lyles didn’t get out of the blocks well. His reaction time tied for the worst in the eight-man field. Slow starts cost him in the first round, then again in the semifinals.

Such felt like a recipe for disaster with this stellar field, among the most loaded in Olympic history. Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville were putting up crazy times. American Fred Kerley was on his game. Even defending Olympic champion Lamont Marcel Jacobs of Italy was in good form.

To see Lyles in fifth place 20 meters in felt like doom.

“It just goes to show,” Lyles said, “races aren’t won with starts.”

But a poor start might’ve been fortuitous. Because even with all his braggadocio, Lyles is an ultimate competitor at his core. He might come across as arrogant and showy, a recipe usually featuring but a teaspoon of substance. But Lyles is a dawg in the toughest sense. His heart’s at least as big as his mouth.

Sunday night, in an Olympic 100-meter final for the ages, it was revealed.

Trailing world-class burners, coming off consecutive losses, Lyles had to summon his absolute best. The slow start triggered his greatest asset. Lyles’ refusal to lose turned this loaded final into a historic one.

It’s the fastest he’s ever run: 9.79 seconds. Technically it was 9.784. He’s America’s first gold medalist in the 100 meters in 20 years. After winning the World Championships in 2023 and now an Olympic championship in 2024, he is the undisputed fastest man in the world.

Thompson took silver with a 9.789. Kerley, who won silver in the Tokyo Olympics, added a bronze to his resume with a personal best time of 9.81. Five of the top six times were personal bests, a season best, or a national record. Seville ran a 9.91 and finished last. Just a ridiculous octet of sprinters.

But Lyles said the moment is never too big for him, instead made for him. They don’t get bigger than what happened Sunday inside Stade de France. On the biggest stage of his life, with the globe watching, in a venue that delivered chills, Lyles made the moment his own.

His mouth wrote the check. His feet cashed it.

“I want my own shoe,” said Lyles, a long-time Adidas endorser. “I want my own trainer. … I want a sneaker. Ain’t no money in spikes. The money’s in sneakers.”

Lyles’ braggadocio isn’t empty. His calculated theatrics and thirst for attention might make him seem a bit less reverential. His arrogance prompts some to root against him.

But you don’t do what he’s done unless you’ve got heart.

Phase one of Lyles’ grand plan for immortality is complete. With the 100 meters in the bag, he now embarks on the 200 meters Monday.

Carl Lewis was the last American to do what Lyles is attempting: win gold in the 100 and 200 meters in the same Olympics. Lewis did it in 1984 in Los Angeles. Michael Johnson was the last American to pull off a sprint double. He won the 200 and 400 meters in 1996 in Atlanta.

The hardest part for Lyles was winning the gold in the 100 meters. The 200 is his main event. He’s the best in the world at it, and has been for this entire Olympic cycle.

“Pretty confident. I can’t lie,” Lyles said. “Kenny put up a fast time at trials. That definitely woke me up. I was very proud of him. He is definitely not going to take how he did here in the 100 lying down. He’s gonna say, ‘I’m going after it in the 200.’ My job is to make sure that …”

Lyles paused. Then he flashed his smile.

“I’ll just leave it there.”

Kerley, who’d been mostly quiet the whole press conference, clearly there out of bronze obligation, perked up and chimed in.

“Talk that s—,” Kerley said to Lyles.

“That man ain’t winning,” Lyles obliged. “None of them are winning. When I come off the turn, they will be depressed.”

What always takes precedence in the realm of banter is backing it up. Hubris is easier to swallow when justified.

The best chance to shut Lyles up was in the 100. Lyles finished seventh in the 100-meter final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials, failing to qualify for the Tokyo Games in the 100.

SEVENTH.

He and coach Lance Brauman went to work, turning him into an elite short-range sprinter.

NOAH LYLES IS THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE 🇺🇸

By four thousands of a second, Lyles eked by Kishane Thompson to win the gold by a whisker.

He is the first American man in 20 years to win the event.

🎥 @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/sKMer9mPOh

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— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 4, 2024

That’s the overlooked part of all this. What Lyles has done to become a world-class sprinter in the premier discipline is a testament to his immense talent and drive. He went into a new realm, which had its great talents, and decided to take them on.

He did so loudly, with a certitude that slighted the incumbents. Three years later, he sits alone on the throne vacated by Usain Bolt. He spoke about wanting to do it. He predicted he would do it. Then he did it. The D.C. area kid pulled a Marlo and took over another turf.

That’s why when he was walking through the mixed zone and saw Brauman, Lyles started jumping and yelling. He had one more run in him this night, through the maze of ropes, around a barrier and into the space crowded with media. So he could celebrate with the coach who helped him pull this off.

The Netflix cameras capturing it all for Season 2 of the docuseries “Sprint.”

At first, Lyles thought he didn’t win. It sure looked as if Thompson beat him. Lyles said he was ready to swallow his pride and eat the loss to a worthy opponent.

Immediately after the race, which was so close it needed technology to determine, Lyles went to Thompson and told him, “I think you got this one big dog.”

In his first two races of this Olympics, Lyles couldn’t recover from slow starts. In the first heat of the 100 meters Saturday, he got behind and couldn’t catch Great Britain’s Louie Hinchliffe. He said he underestimated the field, which he wouldn’t do again.

Saturday, in the semifinals, he shared a heat with Seville. This wasn’t just any heat. Those two have history.

Oblique Seville might sound like an old-school Cadillac, but ain’t nothing slow about him. And after finishing fourth against Lyles in the 2023 World Championships, the 23-year-old Jamaican has continued getting better.

He beat Lyles back in June at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica. Not only did Seville run a 9.82, but he shot Lyles a look in the process.

Lyles, of course, responded on X: “I’ll remember this. See you in Paris.”

Sunday, they lined up next to each other in a semifinal heat.

Seville got a much better start and looked to be comfortably ahead. But Lyles — after his hiccup in the first round and because of his rivalry with the Jamaicans — recovered much better. This time, Lyles chased down the leader. He looked ready for a battle.

A composite image of the men’s 100m. (Photo: Hector Vivas / Getty Images)

He ran a 9.83 despite a slow start. Still, he didn’t overtake Seville, who ran a personal-best 9.81.

So when Lyles did it a third time, getting out of the blocks slow, the packed crowd had every reason to believe he’d lose. Some 20 meters in, he was no better than fifth.

But Lyles has been talking a lot about transcending the sport, elevating track to a new level. He’s talked about wanting more spirited competition with his cohorts. More trash talking. More races. More of the best facing off. This, essentially, is what he wanted.

He’d have to fight for this one. So Lyles hit another gear. The gear the great ones have. He made this race not about technique. Or the purest form. Or the most talent. It was about will. It was about the time-honored tradition of foot race being the measure of a man.

He caught the leaders. They pushed him. He pushed them. In the end was a finish, a moment, that will be remembered for generations.

When the results were in, even Lyles was stunned.

“Everybody in the field came out knowing that they could win this race. I didn’t do this against a slow field. I did this against the best of the best, on the biggest stage, with the biggest pressure. And seeing my name was like, ‘Oh my gosh! There it is!”

The difference proved to be a perfectly timed lean by Lyles. By .005 seconds, his chest crossed the line before Thompson. Lyles won because of his heart.

Required reading

(Photo: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images)

PARIS  — When her confidence waned and her body only began to tickle the fringes of normalcy, Sunisa Lee turned to her comfort zones. Though an exceptional all-around gymnast, she is especially gifted on the uneven bars.

As she slowly made her way back from two debilitating kidney diseases, it was the bars that helped restore Lee. She felt at home there, so comfortable that she started to tinker with a new release move, hoping to have it named after her. Her coach, Jess Graba, supported the plan, encouraged her to do anything that would “get her out of bed in the morning,’’ after the side effects of her kidney ailments left her physically weak and mentally broken.

He did not push her; didn’t even set goals. Graba didn’t know what was reasonable. Besides, he knew the athlete he’s trained since she was four years old, would do that herself. Slowly the fog lifted, and the good news trickled in — a clear to work out and finally in January, an OK to compete. Still, Graba cautioned.  She didn’t have to do this, do any of it, he told her. With an Olympic all-around gold medal already around her neck, she had nothing to prove. The cynics that dogged her, the ones that liked to remind her she won the gold when Simone Biles withdrew, wouldn’t be silenced anyway. In fact, if she was anything less than she had been, they probably would pounce harder.

But Lee wanted what she wanted — another shot. And so Lee plugged forward, through the lead up meets to the Olympics, adding a bit more at each stop. Bars and balance beam only at the Winter Cup in February; mixing in floor exercise at the Core Hydration Classic in May; and finally all in at Olympic trials. Even as she expanded her repertoire, the bars remained her mainstay. A place where her success fortified her, built that confidence back up.

Naturally the better she felt, the better she performed; the better performed, the more she wanted. It is human nature. But even as her eyes opened to possibility, to allowing herself to imagine medals and places, Lee reminded herself that being here was enough.

And so when Lee stepped up last in the uneven bar final in Paris, she swung to win because you always want to win; but mostly she swung because if felt good.

When the 14.800 score flashed, slotting Lee into the bronze medal, she covered her mouth in surprise, surprise that she won a medal, but more surprise at what she’s done.  “The last couple of days, I saw my scores and I saw that if I just hit my routine, I could medal,’’ she said. “But really I just wanted to prove it to myself that I can do it.’’

Lee now has a stash of three Olympic medals from Paris — a gold from the team final, an all-around bronze and a bars bronze. She has a shot for a fourth tomorrow, on the beam. All this from a woman who in January wondered if she should even target the Olympics as a goal.

But if the time since her diagnosis has taught her anything, it is that she is even stronger than she thought she was. The gift of perspective has been almost liberating, allowing Lee to give herself grace and find the sweet spot between pushing for something and being simply happy you can push.

She wound up not doing the would-be signature move; she wanted to, but Graba told her the risk wasn’t worth it.  He crunched the numbers. They didn’t add up. Kaylia Nemour, a 17-year-old Frenchwoman by birth who, because of a protracted disagreement with her federation competes for Algeria, was essentially untouchable. She is to bars what Simone Biles is to vault, unbeatable unless she royally screws up.  Qiu Qiyuan, the reigning bars world champion from China, would be equally hard to beat because of her difficulty score.

Suni Lee wins an uneven bars bronze medal with a fantastic routine in the final! #ParisOlympics

📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/0V1TGS25sp

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024

He didn’t want to tell her she couldn’t do something, but he also knew realistically she wasn’t likely going to win a silver or gold. So aim, he told her, for what was achievable, and find the joy in achieving it. Her routine as it was constructed was good enough to land Lee on the podium; if she did the new skill and fell, it would negate any chance of making it.

At one point in her career Lee might have pushed back. Because of their long time together, Lee has no problem challenging Graba and in the past, he usually followed her lead.

The last 18 months, though, have changed their dynamic. Graba is extraordinarily protective of Lee. He saw her at her lowest, depressed and unable to even come to the gym. Asked how he’s felt, he didn’t hesitate. “Stressed,’’ he said. It was, he believed, his job to keep her goals at reach, to temper her expectations without ruining her drive.

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Gold medalist Suni Lee is back at the Olympics. A team doctor helped make it so

“You’re just worried all year,’’ he said. “She put a lot out to get here, and I just wanted it to pay off.’’

The pay off came when Lee nailed her routine and completed the circle. The one event that restored her at her lowest rewarded her at her peak.

Required reading

(Photo: Dan Mullan / Getty Images)

San Daniele del Friuli was an atmospheric neighbourhood trattoria in Highbury that was once a regular destination for Arsenal’s players and management. It was located a five-minute stroll from the stadium’s marbled entrance.

On Champions League nights, it stayed open late and diners would clap warmly as manager Arsene Wenger came in for a bite to eat with vice-chairman David Dein. Players Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Freddie Ljungberg et al often arrived, showered and changed, to unwind with friends after the game. The owners, a pair of brothers who supported Udinese and Arsenal, treated everyone like family.

For a long time, that was about as strong a connection as could be found between Arsenal and Italy.

The signing of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a move worth up to £42million ($54m) feels momentous for those of an Italo-Arsenal persuasion. It is the first time the club have signed an Italian with star quality, a player in that country’s best traditions of ‘calcio’ who has his best years ahead of him.

It is perhaps peculiar that so few Italian players of note have made their way to Arsenal.

Italy might not be an exporter of footballers to match France and more recently Spain, which have been dominant forces across the continent since the major leagues began to cross-fertilise their talent in the 1990s. But it is still quite high in the list of nations other than England represented in the Premier League since its inception.

The Italian community in London has thrived since the 1800s, with the northern boroughs of Islington — the club’s heartland — and neighbouring Camden among the most populous areas for Italians who settled here.

Maybe it had something to do with never having an Italian manager, or maybe it’s just a curious quirk, but Arsenal have rarely gone down that footballing path.

Niccolo Galli was the first Italian to join Arsenal. A talented defender, he moved to Arsenal’s academy in 1999 and was part of the group that won the FA Youth Cup a year later. He was extremely highly regarded but, at a time when it was still relatively novel to move abroad as a teenager, returned to Italy for a loan period to continue his studies and football development. Tragically, he was killed in a moped accident on his way home from training aged 17.

Galli was Arsenal’s first Italian player (John Walton/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Arturo Lupoli arrived in 2004 and fitted the mould for ‘project youth’ — a period when Arsenal intentionally headhunted young players with high potential to help the club cope with cost-saving measures as they paid for the building of the Emirates stadium.

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Cesc Fabregas was the pick of a bunch that included Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson, Carlos Vela and Philippe Senderos — teenagers who were coveted by scouts across the world as best-of-a-generation prospects. Lupoli was a talented forward who had broken scoring records as an under-17. But it never quite happened for him.

Then came Vito Mannone, a goalkeeper who was mostly a reserve during his Arsenal years. He spent eight years at the club and when he left was replaced for a season by Emiliano Viviano, who never played a competitive match. Arsenal then went almost a decade without an Italian until coach Mikel Arteta signed the Brazil-born Azzurri midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea at 31.

Pierluigi Pardo is a familiar voice on Italian TV as the primary commentator for Serie A matches on broadcaster DAZN Italy. He has strong roots in English football after living in London in his younger days, where he developed an affection for Arsenal.

“Italy is not traditionally a great land for football exports,” he says. “Italians are more comfortable at home. When players started to move more freely across Europe, Arsenal were dominant in France, and there was a greater Italian connection with Chelsea.”

Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola became beacons in blue for Arsenal’s London rivals. Together, with the craze around Fabrizio Ravanelli at Middlesbrough, they brought all the sparkle of established stars when they came to England in 1996. But Italian players in the Premier League have seldom been as dazzling in the two decades since that generation.

It is also notable that the most successful and high-profile Italians playing in England have tended not to be defenders — maybe surprising considering the hallowed status of the position in Serie A and for the Azzurri.

Andrea Rosati grew up in Parma, northern Italy, and first came across Arsenal when the two teams met in the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup final.

Initially, mere mention of the club’s name sickened him after Arsenal did a job on a stylish Parma, winning 1-0. But, over time, Rosati grew to admire and adore Arsenal and they became his English club of choice. “The values of the club, particularly after Arsene Wenger came, glued to me,” he says.

He is fascinated by the cultural changes that see someone like Calafiori arrive at Arsenal with a worldly outlook, excellent language skills, and a capacity to adapt that is modern and exciting.

Calafiori, second-right, next to now-Arsenal team-mate Jorginho at Euro 2024 (Cesare Purini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

“When I was growing up, Serie A in the mid-1990s was the driving force of football and attracted the best players in the world,” he says. “It looked like the Premier League is now.

“There was no great appeal to leave Serie A. Italian players were not generally willing to leave and there were certain things about England that were not so inviting. Quite apart from the physical reputation of the football, there was also basic stuff like the weather and food!

“Then Vialli happened, and Zola happened, and that changed the entire image. The Premier League became a thing. Sky TV arriving in Italy opened up the window to other countries and leagues.”

Rosati observes that in the past decade, perspectives have been broadening. Language is no longer the barrier it once was, as the current generation pick up linguistics and ideas over social media. “The world is smaller,” he says. That Calafiori could express himself in his signing video in fluent English is significant.

Benvenuto, Riccardo Calafiori 🇮🇹

Meeting new teammates for the very first time ❤️ pic.twitter.com/JbUhqOBCMN

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— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 29, 2024

As an Arsenal fan, Rosati is thrilled by Calafiori’s signing. “It is stunning,” he says. “He is flying, and was particularly keen to choose Arsenal. He is a great match with what Arteta represents and wants. What impresses most is probably his character. When he suffered a bad injury as a teenager, he reacted with such courage to come back and to follow the path, in moving abroad, that would best help his football.”

That injury, and his choices afterwards, made a big impression on Pardo. “Going to Basel (Calafiori left Roma to join the Swiss team in 2022) was a brave, open-minded decision,” he says. “Not many in Italy would have made the same choice at 20 years old. Going to Switzerland, rather than staying in Italy to try to rebuild his career, challenged him personally and professionally but it was very good for him. It is like a student going on (European Union exchange programme) Erasmus, experiencing a different country and different habits. It is a sign of his personality.

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Riccardo Calafiori, Arsenal’s new defender who got lifts from De Rossi and models his game on Stones

“Since then, Calafiori showed incredible growth in Bologna and then confirmed his quality with the national team during the Euros. He is in the tradition of great Italian defenders. Even aesthetically, he reminds us of Paolo Maldini or Fabio Cannavaro when he had hair. He has technical quality, physical strength, and consistency. Potentially, he is great.”

Calafiori helped Bologna reach the Champions League last season (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)

The country’s official branch of the Arsenal supporters’ club, the Italian Gooners, are thrilled to have one of their own to support. They already had a banner at the Emirates — maybe it will be amended with some new visuals, or a hair transplant for decoration. Expectations are high.

“I like how he already has a chant to the song, ‘That’s Amore’, which is welcoming him with his Italian culture to north London,” says Cico Tagliavini, who lives in Highbury and has family roots in Bologna.

“I am even more happy because he is coming from Bologna, who propelled his career in a historic season (they reached the European Cup/Champions League for the first time since 1964), which is an extra source of pride. He is going from one of the teams I support to the other one. I am so excited to see him and he will be doing it on the biggest stages of all.”

As the legendary former Italy centre-back Leonardo Bonucci said, “He’s going to be a reference point for our national team for the next 15 years.”

Arsenal can only hope he achieves something similar for them.

(Top photo: Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)