Summary
Athlete Noah Lyles uses the Yu-Gi-Oh! The cards are like lucky charms, expressing passion and dedication. Lyles revealed the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Exodia cards before the race, while embracing otaku status. Demonstrate a true understanding of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legend has it, Lyles achieved a personal best and earned a spot on the Olympic team.
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a long-running franchise that, through an anime series and a successful card game, has been around for nearly three decades, regularly branching out into the mainstream, as demonstrated by its stunt recently by the US Olympian, demonstrating his passion and dedication to Yu-Gi-Oh!.
As revealed in a post on @NBC Sports' X account, the sixth world champion sprinter and Olympic medalist Noah Lylesrelying on the iconic Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as lucky charms to carry him to the promised land of not only making the US Men's National Team but also propelling him toward gold at next month's Paris Olympics.
American sports stars have a custom of drawing inspiration and strength from their favorite superheroes and comic book characters. The recent popularity of manga and anime in the West means that more and more mainstream icons, from sports to music, are letting the world know about their passions.
Noah Lyles performs Yi-Gi-Oh! Drip
Athletes carry symbolic cards throughout the competition
Lyles' revelation came during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field trials taking place at the University of Oregon. This isn't the first time Noah has shown off his otaku status. Indeed, as in the pre-race introduction the day before the @NBCSports post, Lyles similarly pulled the Yu-Gi-Oh! card for the Blue Eyes White Dragon right before entering his starting rig.
Yu-Gi-Oh! by Lyles! References aren't just a one-time attention grabber. By drawing the two most iconic cards in the entire series, Lyles demonstrates a true understanding of the story, its myths and legends, as he proves in this interview, as well Posted by @NBCSports on X:
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Exodia card is the ultimate game-changing power
Once fully formed Exodia is unstoppable
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Exodia card represents the ultimate power move. This is the strongest and rarest card in the series. However, Exodia's power is not shown in just one card. Instead, players need to assemble Exodia's five component cards: head, right and left arms, right leg and left leg. If a player has all of these cards on the battlefield, as Yugi did in his infamous first victory over Kaiba, they automatically win the game.
Just like in the manga, Lyles' choice to show the Exodia card was a coincidence. Not only did he earn a spot on the Olympic team for the men's 100 meter race, but he did so by achieving his personal best time, a staggering 9.83 seconds from start to finish . Of course, if he continues to lean in Yu-Gi-Oh! lucky charm strategy, there's no telling how much Lyles will be able to achieve in the Olympics.
Source: @NBA Sports