American sprinter Mr Noah Lyles has quite rightly received flak for competing in the 200 metres final at the just-concluded Paris Olympic Games after revealing, following the race, that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Irresponsible, ignorant, and selfish are just three of the adjectives hurled at the athlete by people in his own country after he made the claim following the race in which he placed third behind Mr Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who won his country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal, and the American Mr Kenneth Bednarek, who took the silver medal.

Not surprisingly, there are many people who do not believe Mr Lyles, given his pre-race theatrics in which he showed no sign of illness on being introduced to the crowd, bounding onto the track and gesticulating with his arms to pump up spectators.

Further, a video, which surfaced on Monday showing him dancing up a storm in L’Arc nightclub in Paris a few days after withdrawing from Olympic competition, only fuelled more scepticism and gave people reason to believe that Mr Lyles had sought a scapegoat for his loss. After all, he and the US media had been very vocal predicting that he would have won three gold medals at the Olympics.

In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 revelation, we had wondered about the silence of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and USA Track and Field (USATF) on this matter. Eventually, both organisations spoke.

According to USATF, team officials had “enacted all necessary protocols” to prioritise Mr Lyles’ health, the well-being of the team, and the safety of fellow competitors.

“Our primary commitment is to ensure the safety of Team USA athletes while upholding their right to compete,” USATF said. “After a thorough medical evaluation, Noah chose to compete tonight. We respect his decision and will continue to monitor his condition closely. As an organisation, we are rigorously adhering to…guidelines for respiratory illnesses to prevent the spread of illness among team members.”

The IOC, in its statement, said that there were no specific COVID protocols in place this year. Instead, it reminded everyone attending the Games of “good practices to adopt should they experience any respiratory symptoms”.

It also said that each national Olympic committee was free to put in place additional measures for its athletes or competitions, but few have chosen to do so. Instead, the decision about whether to compete has largely been left up to the athletes themselves.

That is a stunning and irresponsible position by an organisation that, because of the pandemic — which has killed more than seven million people — delayed the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo until 2021 and staged it without spectators.

If indeed Mr Lyles had contracted COVID, we are empathetic and hope that he experiences full recovery. However, the IOC needs to say whether it was informed by USATF of Mr Lyles’ illness before the race, and if it had been, why was he allowed to compete, thereby placing other athletes at risk. If the IOC was not informed before the event, then USATF is obligated to answer.

This fiasco raises the question of how games’ organisers, whether the IOC or World Athletics, should treat with any such occurrence in the future. Exposing athletes and spectators to health risks is unconscionable and smacks of a lack of regard for public safety.