Noah Lyles has made no secret of what he wants out of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Medals. Gold medals. Three of them.

The American sprint star took the first step toward that goal on Sunday night, winning the men’s 100 meters at Stade de France by the slimmest of margins. It required video review to confirm Lyles won by five-thousandths of a second over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.

Lyles’ time was 9.784 and Thompson had 9.789 to take silver. The photo finish was decided based on when Lyle’s torso crossed the finish, not the sprinters’ feet. American Fred Kerley finished third with a time of 9.81.

This was the closest 100-meter race since at least Moscow in 1980 — or maybe even ever. Back then, Britain’s Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in an era when timing didn’t go down into the thousandths of a second.

Lyles is the first American to win the celebrated race since Justin Gatlin in 2004.

After a disappointing performance three years ago at the Tokyo Games, where he struggled with depression and finished third in his specialty, the 200 meters, Lyles arrived in Paris with a bigger goal — the coveted 100, 200 and 4×100-relay sprint triple — in mind.

“Now, here I am, stronger than before,” he said. “And when Noah Lyles is being Noah Lyles, there is nobody else.”

He will have his next chance to prove it in the 200 on Thursday. The relay is scheduled for Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NANTERRE, France — Katie Ledecky is rewriting the history books. Again.

On Saturday night, she took gold in the women’s 800-meter freestyle, her fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event. It marks the first time a woman ever won four gold medals in the same event and also brought Ledecky’s career total up to nine Olympic gold medals, which ties Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most all-time by a female Olympian.

Ledecky logged a time of 8:11.04 to clinch her latest gold. Australian Ariarne Titmus (8:12.29) and American Paige Madden (8:13.00) took silver and bronze, respectively.

Ledecky was the heavy favorite in the 800 free, just as she was earlier in the week in the 1500-meter freestyle. The 27-year-old is less dominant in shorter distances, but she remains the world’s greatest distance swimmer.

Coming into Saturday night’s race, Ledecky already owned 29 of the 30 fastest times in world history in the women’s 800 free. And she continues to relish them.

Earlier this week, she reiterated her interest in swimming at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, when she’ll be 31 years old. She loves the training, and she loves the heaviness of the workload.

“To thrive in distance swims, you have to train yourself to focus on nothing, or on something constructive, otherwise your brain will default to a self-preservation cycle of registering that your body hurts — signaling you to stop doing whatever it is that is hurting your body and sending messages to all corners of your mind to quit swimming already! In short, if you can’t harness your thoughts, you become your own worst enemy in the pool,” Ledecky wrote in her memoir.

“Repetition challenges your mental and physical game, and swimming is repetition to the nth degree. But for whatever reason — genetics, luck, stellar coaching, a particular physiology — I’ve been able to embrace the good and tolerate the rest.”

GOAT ACTIVITY. 🇺🇸👑

KATIE LEDECKY WINS HER NINTH GOLD MEDAL! #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/R6ZGqFyfG9

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 3, 2024

Ledecky is famously quiet, shy and reserved. The most emotional anyone ever sees her in the pool is after races like Saturday’s. These distances mean a great deal to her, and she means a great deal to their history.

Saturday’s final was Ledecky’s last race of these Paris Games. She heads home with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze. She has now won 14 total Olympic medals across four Games.

Her nine Olympic gold medals are tied for second-most for an American athlete with swimmer Mark Spitz and track and field athlete Carl Lewis. Michael Phelps holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals for an American athlete with 23.

Required reading

(Photo: Adam Pretty / Getty Images)

Ben Gay, a former NFL running back who played one season with the Cleveland Browns, died late last month in a car crash in Colorado. He was 44.

Gay died on July 29 in the crash, according to Nirfino. The Associated Press, Akron Beacon-Journal and Houston Chronicle all reported Gay’s death.

“Rest easy the original Spring legend… Ben Gay!! I haven’t seen him since high school but we attended middle/high school together,” one Facebook user wrote on the former football player. “High school memory! Ben was a beast in the 90’s. He’s at the end…. he left them boys!”

Gay was a standout running back at Garden City Community College in Kansas after he was removed from the Baylor program over team violations.

He played in a preseason game for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League before the Browns took a chance on him.

DOLPHINS’ TYREEK HILL AGREES TO THREE-YEAR, $90 MILLION RESTRUCTURED DEAL

Ben Gay runs against the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. (Tom Pidgeon /Getty Images)

He appeared in all 16 games for Cleveland during the 2001 season when the Browns went 7-9 and finished third in the AFC North division. He rushed for 172 yards on 51 carries and scored one touchdown.

Cleveland waived Gay the following offseason. He signed with the Indianapolis Colts but failed to make their 53-man roster, according to the Beacon-Journal.

Running back Ben Gay of the Cleveland Browns carries the ball versus the Jaguars at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. (Andy Lyons/Allsport)

Gay is survived by his wife and three children, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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