Jenna Lemoncelli
NBC broadcaster Leigh Diffey said his eyes deceived him when he announced the wrong winner of the men’s 100-meter final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Team USA sprinter Noah Lyles secured gold with a time of 9.784 seconds — and beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (9.789 seconds) by just five thousandths of a second.
“The men’s 100 was epic & closest of all time! My eyes & instinct told me Kishane Thompson won,” Diffey wrote Monday on social media. “Obviously, that wasn’t the case.
“I shouldn’t have been so bold to call it, but I genuinely thought he won. I got it wrong. I am thrilled for @LylesNoah as his story only gets bigger!”
NOAH LYLES’ OLYMPIC DREAM COMES TRUE!
100M GOLD MEDALIST. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/qR6bkXLHhE
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Diffey excitedly conveyed on the broadcast that the race was extremely close.
“There’s an Olympic gold medal waiting for somebody! Who wants it the most?” he said.
“… This is close! Jamaica’s gonna do it! Kishane Thompson is a gold medalist!”
A photo finish showed Thompson’s white track shoe touch the finish line first.
However, Lyles was declared the winner, as slow motion video and an ariel snapshot determined his torso crossed the finish line first.
The first athlete whose torso reaches the finish line first is the winner, per track and field rules.
Diffey, who’s calling his sixth Olympics and second track and field competition, would not comment further about the matter.
“I’d rather not fuel the fire,” he told The Associated Press of the botched call. “They’re all experts after it’s over, right? I trusted my eyes and instinct and got it wrong by .0005 seconds.”
NBC analyst Ato Bolden, who was on the call with Diffey, also believed Thompson won the race.
“It was a lean at the tape by Thompson, visually we think he got it,” Bolden said. “They’re working on the photo.”
Lyles and Thompson were seen exchanging words after the race while they focused on the scoreboard at Stade de France.
“It’s Noah Lyles! And it had to go to a photo finish to decide it!” Diffey said when the results were announced.
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The race was so close, Lyles even said he was “shocked” to learn he won.
“I thought I got out-leaned, truly. And me and Kishane were right next to each other, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna have to swallow my pride on this one. I’m gonna be honest, I think you had that one,’” Lyles. 27, said.
“And then my name came up and I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I am incredible.’”
It marked the second year in a row Lyles won a 100-meter title by a lean.
Lyles will compete in Round 1 of the men’s 200-meter race on Monday.
