Kishane Thompson Explains Why he Did not Treat Himself After Narrow Loss to Noah Lyles in Paris

Olympic 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson Photo. File

Kishane Thompson Explains Why he Did not Treat Himself After Narrow Loss to Noah Lyles in Paris

Mark Kinyanjui 02:20 - 10.05.2025

Kishane Thompson has explained why he never really took time to treat himself after clinching Olympic 100m silver in Paris.

Reigning Olympic 100m silver medalist Kishane Thompson has opened up about the emotional aftermath of narrowly missing out on gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics—and why that moment changed his mindset entirely.

Rather than celebrating what was a career-defining podium finish, Thompson says he spent the weeks following the Games locked in self-reflection. 

Speaking after his first race since Paris at the Shanghai Diamond League, the Jamaican sprinter admitted that the sting of defeat has lingered far more than any joy from the medal.

“To be honest, I did not really do anything,” he told The Inside Lane following his season-opening 9.99-second run, which saw him finish second to South Africa’s Akani Simbine by a hundredth of a second.

 “More like, I [rewatched] the race more like 100 million times, but I did not really do anything [else] really.”

Thompson was widely tipped to win the Olympic 100m crown last August, but tightened up in the final meters, allowing Noah Lyles to snatch gold by mere microseconds. That moment of faltering has haunted him ever since.

' Sacrifices Are Necessary'

Kishane Thompson Explains Why he Did not Treat Himself After Narrow Loss to Noah Lyles in Paris
Kishane Thompson won Olympic 100m silver medal behind Noah Lyles in Paris // Image source: Imago Kishane Thompson won Olympic 100m silver medal behind Noah Lyles in Paris // Image source: Imago

Though Thompson hasn’t forgotten the race, he’s now using it as fuel. In a March Instagram post, the sprinter shared a video of himself revisiting the Paris final, accompanied by an emotional voice-over that reflects the mental toll and the determination to come back stronger.

“There is no such thing as a painless lesson,” the post said. “They just don’t exist.

"Sacrifices are necessary. You cannot gain anything without losing something first, although if you can endure that pain and walk away from it, you will find that you now have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle.”

Saturday’s narrow defeat in Shanghai—where he again lost by the slimmest of margins—showed there’s still fine-tuning to be done. 

But for Thompson, the mission is clear: redemption, resilience, and returning stronger.

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