Olympic Gold Medalist Noah Lyles Reveals He 'Actually Grew Up in a Cult'

Mar. 15, 2025

BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images

Olympic gold medalistNoah Lylesshared a surprising element of his childhood — he grew up in a cult.

Lyles, 27, said he had never spoken about religion in a podcast setting before opening up to listeners in an episode of theEverybody Wants to Be Uspodcast. The episode was released after he became a gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“I actually grew up in a cult,” Lyles said before explaining, “It was a cult. It just wasn’t at the level of, ‘Yeah, okay. We’re gonna drink the Kool-Aid.' "

“But it was super strict,” the track star revealed.

According to Lyles, the group demanded that all moms “had to be homeschooling their kids” and the accepted shared belief was that “the father was the head of the household.”

Lyles shared that the “church told you who you could date, who you couldn’t date,” and all marriages were required to go “through” the church. “That type of behavior,” Lyles said.

“And we left and that’s why we went to North Carolina,” the Olympian explained, adding that his family went with the intention of joining a new church in the area, “only to figure out they wanted to do the same thing,” Lyles said.

“So, we left that, but that kind of really messed up my view of church and it definitely messed up my mom’s view,” he divulged.

Noah Lyles of Team United States.Patrick Smith/Getty

Patrick Smith/Getty

Lyles said it took his mother “a long time” to move past the situation.

“And even now, she still struggles to trust churches in general, but she never lost her faith in the religion and I think instilled that in us,” Lyles said of his mother. “It made it easier for me to go throughout my own journey.”

Lyles credited his mom’s strength and her faith in “asking” to be tested in life. “When I was young, she said, ‘When you lack faith, ask for a test and he will provide the test.’ "

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The gold medalist said that belief motivated him to push past the symptoms of swine flu in ninth grade during trials for the World Youth track-and-field team. Lyles said on the podcast that he became the youngest person to make the World Youth team that day.

Noah Lyles of Team USA.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

During his bronze-winning race in the Paris Olympics, Lyles was forced to overcome sickness once again after testing positive for COVID-19 days before.

After the race, Lylestold PEOPLEhe knew he could “still put on a great performance” in Paris.

“[I was like] ‘Let’s try and keep this as normal as possible,’ knowing that I’ve handled stuff like this in the past,” he said on Aug. 11. “I’ve run very close to after having contracted COVID, many times. [It’s about] knowing that I was made for moments like this and I’ve trained all my life. I know that I can go out there and still put on a great performance, and it’s an all or nothing scenario, because nothing is promised tomorrow. So I might as well take advantage of today.”

source: people.com