NOAH STARS IN FAST SHOW

Bold-as-brass American idol runs race of lifetime

- Andy Dunn

"IF you don't have main character energy, track and field ain't for you."

Those were the recent words of the new Olympic 100m champion to a TV crew making a fly-on-the-wall documentary about athletics.

It is fair to say Noah Lyles has main-character energy.

On the glitziest, grandest stage, a showman turned up to win the showcase event.

He talked a lot of talk, Lyles, but somehow he also walked the walk.

His 9.79secs was no world record, not even close. Ditto in terms of an Olympic record. At 9.58 and 9.63 respectively they both belong to the master showman Usain Bolt, right.

But here is why it was one of the greatest runs in an Olympic 100m final - the 27-year-old Lyles has never been faster.

That is what makes Olympic champions, what defines them. And this sort of performance in the most extraordinary of races is all about self-belief, all about confidence, all about bravado.