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Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles has revealed he grew up in a cult long before he competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In an episode of the Everyone wants to be us In a podcast, the 27-year-old athlete spoke candidly about his unorthodox upbringing, revealing that he grew up in a “super strict” church environment before his family moved to North Carolina.
“I actually grew up in a cult,” the Olympic sprinter said, noting it was not like the one at the center of the Jonestown massacre.
“It was a cult. It wasn’t about saying, ‘Yeah, okay. We’re going to drink the Kool-Aid.’ But it was very strict.”
“All mothers had to educate their children at home and the father was the head of the family,” she continued.
“The church told you who you could date and who you couldn’t. If you got married, you had to do it through us, that kind of behavior.”
Her parents, Kevin Lyles and Keisha Caine, eventually decided to remove their family from that environment, she said, and moved to North Carolina, only to discover that the local church also practiced similar tactics.
“That’s why we moved to North Carolina,” he explained. “We were going to start another church, but we realized they were going to do the same thing, except they wanted to be the leaders. So we left.”
The experience “disrupted” Lyles and his mother’s view of being part of a church, he said.
But while they struggle to put their faith in an organized church, Lyles said his mother still practices her faith and her commitment to doing so inspired him to do the same.
“Having that instilled in us from a young age made it easier for me to embark on my own journey,” Lyles added.
“Everyone asks that question: ‘Is there really a God? ’ And something I love is that when I was young, she said, ‘God says when you lack faith, ask for proof. ’ And He will provide you with proof.”
He credits his faith with helping him overcome swine flu symptoms in ninth grade to try out for the world junior track team.
At the time, Noah became the youngest person to make the world junior team, putting him on a trajectory that would eventually lead him to win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 100-meter final.
On August 4, he finished as the world's number one sprinter with a time of 9.79 at the Stade de France, securing the gold medal for Team USA.
To this day, he still considers himself a devout Christian, he said, although he does not practice his faith by the standards of organized religion.
“I don’t have time to go to church every weekend,” he laughs, noting that he has other priorities: “I have to run.”
