American athlete Noah Lyles wants to make Olympics history at Paris 2024 this summer and do something not even Usain Bolt achieved.
Lyles is looking to replicate his success at the World Championships in Budapest last year, where he won two gold medals at the 100 and 200 metres.
3
But he wants to go one better and land four track gold medals at Paris 2024.
Olympics great Bolt landed a sprint triple at London 2012 and Rio 2016, having been stripped of the same feat at Beijing 2008, but Lyles wants to best the legendary Jamaican this summer.
Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen won four golds in the 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and 4x100m in London in 1948 but Lyles could become the first male to replicate the achievement.
“Why four?” Lyles told The Times. “Well, there have been multiple doubles, not a lot, but there have been plenty.
READ MORE ON OLYMPICS
"I can grab three but Bolt has done that. I can do two Olympics in a row, but Bolt has done that too.
“A field event? Nope, been done. So I really have to look.
"What’s left on the table that could put me on my Mount Rushmore, make people say, ‘Not only was he great, but he did something that hasn’t been done’?
“What I want and expect are two different things. I expect to get multiple gold medals but what I want is four.
3
3
"I can definitely put a downpayment on two, but relays are a bit tricky.”
As well as the 100, 200 metre races and the 4x100m relay, Lyles plans to participate in the 4x400m relay - just like he did in Glasgow where he won helped USA win silver.
Most read in Olympics
Usain Bolt sets PSG star Kylian Mbappe a 100m running challenge to see if the Frenchman is as fast as the Olympian
However, that has not been without controversy after being accused of trying to force his way into the four-man team.
“A lot of people in the US were very, very, very upset that I ran the 4x4,” Lyles said.
Read More on talkSPORT
“I can’t give all the details but there were coaches who coached athletes who were on the 4x4 but didn’t get to run, and they were upset about that.
"They complained to higher-ups about the decision. The higher-ups decided to take action."