The Path: Prologue to an Olympic Volunteer Experience
By Ashonté S. Lyles
The Path
In the summer of 1984, amidst the kaleidoscope of nations converging upon the grand stage of the Olympics in Los Angeles, California, a young boy named Marlon Lyles watched in awe from his home in public housing in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. At six years old, his eyes sparkled with the fervent dreams ignited by the spectacles unfolding on the television screen.
As he watched Carl Lewis (USA) OLY thunder down the track, seizing gold for the United States, Marlon's heart raced in tandem with the athletes. "I want to be the fastest man in the world," Marlon whispered to himself. In an awe-inspiring display reminiscent of the legendary Jesse Owens (USA) OLY, Carl Lewis triumphed across four events, winning as planned in the same events as Jesse Owens and etching his name into Olympic history. His lightning-fast time of 19.80 seconds in the 200m sprint, equivalent to a staggering 22 mph, shattered the Olympic record and redefined excellence. Anchoring the 4 × 100m relay team, Lewis propelled them to a new world record of 37.83 seconds. Alongside Hungarian gymnast Ecaterina Szabo (ROU) OLY representing Romania, Lewis claimed the distinction of winning the most gold medals at the Games, an astounding four each.
Representation Matters
For Marlon, witnessing a Black man achieve such extraordinary feats—mirroring the accomplishments of Jesse Owens in the 1936 Games amid the tumultuous backdrop of Nazi Germany's bigotry—left an indelible mark. Though only six years old and unaware of the historical significance, Marlon sensed the magnitude of possibility. In that moment, he realized that his potential was limited only by the expanse of his mind, which knew no bounds.
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Love Wins Every Time
This sentiment is echoed in the friendship formed between Jesse Owens and Luz Long (GER) OLY, the German Olympian who defied Hitler by embracing Jesse Owens. Owens and Long's act of sportsmanship, friendship, and Olympic Spirit during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, recently highlighted in 2022 by the auction of Long's medal, underscores the powerful impact of unity and respect in sports.
The Starting Line
From that moment on, every spare moment was dedicated to running. Marlon raced his older siblings and neighborhood children every day, he sprinted through alleys and parks, imagining the roar of the Olympic crowd in his ears. Of his siblings, his brother Craig was his biggest competition, he destroyed young Marlon regularly, never letting him win. This was mainly due to the six-year age gap between Marlon and Craig, but one day Craig had to run all out with maximum effort to beat Marlon. That was a glorious day for the young Marlon Lyles because he knew his brother would never be able to beat him again and that was the last time they raced.
Marlon tested his abilities each year by competing in St. Louis Public School’s field day races from elementary through middle school, where his natural talent shone, practically winning every event he entered. He competed in the same events as Carl Lewis, the long jump and sprints. Things did not go so well for his hero, who lost the most anticipated race at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, the 100m finals, to Canadian Ben Johnson (CAN), who later was found to have been using steroids.
Marlon attended the Academic and Athletic Academy Busch or AAA Busch in St Louis, Missouri for middle school grades 6 – 8 as did most of his siblings. The magnet school, founded to address educational inequity and an alternative organizational structure for students of similar interests, was centered on athletics. Marlon and his classmates were introduced to and taught the rules of play and sportsmanship (as a course) for a multitude of sports including basketball, soccer, table tennis, archery, tennis, volleyball, track and field, baseball, softball, swimming, bowling, skating, badminton, horseshoes, shooting, weightlifting, gymnastics, and racquetball to name several.
In the spring of 1992, both Carl Lewis and Marlon Lyles made history in track and field. At the St. Louis Public School’s end-of-year field day, held at a high school track, the boys' track team from AAA Busch Middle School shattered the 4 × 100m relay record previously held at that high school track. Despite their young age—ranging from 12 to 14—the team's remarkable performance surpassed all previous records set on that track. Marlon, anchoring the relay just like Carl Lewis, played a pivotal role in this achievement. Later that year, during the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, an aging Carl Lewis in his third Olympic appearance, led Team USA to gold in the 4 × 100m relay, setting a new world record with a time of 37.40 seconds.
The 1992 Summer Olympics also marked the arrival of the NBA pros featuring Marlon’s favorite player at the time, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson (USA) OLY with “The Dream Team.” This was the first time the world got a glimpse of the Olympic athletes outside of their competitions. The press followed The Dream Team all over Barcelona, their members were so popular they created a frenzy that posed a security threat to themselves and the other competitors, so much so that they were not allowed to stay in the Olympic Village. Marlon stayed glued to the television that summer watching The Dream Team all over Barcelona, fascinated by the skilled players and the city itself. Barcelona would later hold significance for Marlon, foreshadowing his potential future in the world of athletics.
School Daze
Riding the highs of his middle school record-setting field day, Marlon entered high school in the Fall of 1992 and began running for the varsity team in Spring at Gateway Institute of Technology now known as Gateway STEM High School. He and his teammates had ambitious goals of competing in the 1996 Olympics being held in Atlanta, Georgia. They knew the ‘96 Olympics would be the first Olympics they would be old enough to compete in for track and field. But proper training eluded Marlon, for the streets became his makeshift track, littered with literal and figurative obstacles and pitfalls.
By Marlon's junior year in 1995, while training on the streets of St. Louis, injury struck like a dark omen. A hamstring injury abruptly ended his competition season and dimmed the prospects of his track aspirations. His environment and family circumstances did not allow for proper recovery or rehabilitation; the best he could do was borrow a pair of crutches from a classmate, who had borrowed them from his brother, who had found them abandoned on the streets. The crutches passed from one "project kid" to another like treasured relics of misfortune, emblematic of the challenges faced by those striving against the odds. The injury left him with a lingering limp, and his speed was never quite the same.
Throughout Marlon’s high school career, he also excelled at football, his love for track overshadowed by everyone else’s love for his ability to play football. His 1996 senior year brought football success but dashed hopes for track scholarships. Graduation brought a diploma but with no athletic or academic scholarships and no change in his family’s resources, there was no clear path forward.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics arrived with Muhammad Ali (USA) OLY lighting the Olympic flame. Centennial Olympic Park, named in honor of the centennial anniversary of the modern Olympic movement, became a focal point for Olympic festivities, including the tragic terrorist attack that altered security measures forever. The U.S. showed out as we say, bringing home 101 medals, including 44 gold medals. Track phenom Michael Johnson (USA) OLY was among them, he won gold in the 400m setting an Olympic record at 43.49 seconds, and captivated audiences. Johnson also broke the world record which he held and won gold in the 200m with a final time of 19.32 seconds. Marlon's hero, Carl Lewis, made his final Olympic appearance and secured his ninth and last Olympic gold medal in the long jump, solidifying his position as one of the most legendary Olympians ever.
Wild Blue Yonder
One day Marlon’s path would lead him to the site of the ‘96 Games, Atlanta, Georgia nearly 20 years later. For now, Marlon was detoured to the U.S. Air Force, which he joined in October 1996. In 1997 Marlon's journey intersected with the Olympic Spirit when he volunteered as an athlete host for the Special Olympics at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, keeping the flame alive within him. His athlete competed in the long jump just like Carl Lewis.
During the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Marlon was serving in the USAF in Germany and could not watch the Games, however, he and his brother-in-arms Gerald ‘G-Money’ traveled to the site of both past and future Olympic games, Barcelona, London, and Paris. The pair also made a trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands where he would later return in 2012 during the London Games.
By 2004 Marlon, no longer in the military, was a Department of Defense civil servant serving in California just outside of Los Angeles the site of the 1984 Olympics where Carl Lewis made his Olympic debut. The 2004 Games were held in their birthplace, Athens, Greece where Michael Phelps (USA) OLY went wild winning six gold and two bronze medals making his performance the second-best Olympic performance of all time.
Between 2004 and 2008, Marlon moved twice more and met his wife, Ashonté, coincidentally at Keesler Air Force Base, where the Special Olympics had kept Marlon's Olympic flame ablaze. Marlon and Ashonté shared a love for travel, but it was the 2008 Games that ignited their desire to attend the Olympic Games as spectators. As fate would have it, Ashonté’s coworker went to support his daughter who competed as a diver representing Great Britain in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Marlon thought to himself that he would never go to the Olympics as an athlete, but this meant he could attend as a fan someday.
The 2008 Games saw Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian of all time with eight gold medals in a single Olympics and as many Olympic records. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (JAM) OLY stole the show in track and field, winning gold medals and setting world records in the 100m and 200m men’s sprints.
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The Feds
Continuing his life of service, Marlon joined the ranks of the Federal Aviation Administration and he and Ashonté moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2010. In 2012, Marlon had a chance to attend the Summer Olympics in London when he and Ashonté visited friends living in Wassenaar, Netherlands, to celebrate completing her undergraduate degree. During this trip, they also visited Paris, France, Ashonté for the first time. Life was busy, as it is for everyone, and Marlon didn't realize when he planned the trip that the Olympics were in full swing, so unfortunately, it was a missed opportunity to be a spectator at the Games.
Back in the States in April 2013, serendipity struck again when Marlon met Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, another of his heroes, at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. Marlon decided to go to the park on a day that happened to be when the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) hosted the 75th NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball Championship and Bracket Town, an interactive sports fan fest. Marlon arrived just as Mr. Abdul-Jabbar completed hosting a youth basketball clinic in the park.
As the basketball legend made his exit Marlon called out, Kareem acknowledged Marlon looking him directly in the eye, and reached out his massive hand to share the handshake that all African American men seem to know as if embedded in their DNA.
The 1968 Olympics: A Stand for Justice
Kareem had boycotted the only opportunity he had to compete in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico due to racial injustice. It was not until 1992 that professional athletes from the NBA were allowed to compete in the Games and the Dream Team was born, Kareem retired his jersey in 1989. At that time in history, the American War in Vietnam raged, and civil unrest was rampant, and the assassinations of JFK in 1963, Human Rights activists el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X) in 1965, and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 gripped the country. Many prominent athletes made a stand. The great world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (USA) OLY opted to go to prison rather than the military in 1967 making him ineligible for the games in ’68. Then during their medal ceremony, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith (USA) OLY and John Carlos (USA) OLY, each raised the Black Power salute during the playing of the U.S. national anthem.
Serendipity
For years Marlon encountered multiple events that would place the Olympics back on his path as if by cosmic destiny. He went on a group trip to Barcelona, Spain in 2016 and stayed in the home of someone who happened to attend the 1992 Olympics. He also stayed at Hotel Arts, a site constructed as part of Barcelona’s Olympic transformation. In 2017, he reconnected with the Special Olympics in the Florida Keys through a business partnership that donated services to the athletes.
In April 2023, Marlon saw a social media campaign inviting spectators to the 2024 Games, reminding him of his volunteer work for the Special Olympics in the Air Force and his business's recent services to the Special Olympics in the Florida Keys. He wondered if he could volunteer again. Soon after in May 2023, he located the volunteer portal for the Paris Olympics and applied. He did not believe he would be selected from the over 300,000 applicants especially since they were only selecting 15% or 45,000 volunteers, plus he does not speak French. To his surprise, he was chosen for the Olympics and the Paralympics scheduled for three weeks later.
Since being accepted as an Olympic volunteer, Marlon has had the opportunity to attend and support competitors at the 2024 Flag Football World Championship Tour in Orlando, Florida, the Pan IBJJF Jui-Jitsu World Championship held in Kissimmee, Florida, and the Central Florida Regional Special Olympics also in Kissimmee. In addition, he attended the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, Florida. The world of sports has reentered his life in a new and exciting way.
Full Circle
Each twist and turn of Marlon's odyssey brought him closer to his true calling, a path illuminated by the flickering flame of hope. He had always been connected to the Games. First, as a child watching Carl Lewis, then as a sprinter hoping to run in the ’96 Games, next as a fan of all Olympic hopefuls and champions watching from wherever he was in the world, and now as a volunteer helping to set the tone of the Paris Olympic Games. Marlon's story shows that dreams can be reshaped and still fulfill their purpose. His journey teaches us the value of service and the power of perseverance. He embodies the Olympic Spirit, which is not just about achieving personal goals but about lifting others and creating opportunities for all.
The Beginning
On July 26th, 2024, Marlon will be amidst the thunderous applause of nations converging in harmonious competition, standing on the hallowed grounds of the 2024 Paris Olympics, not as a competitor, but as an ambassador of the human spirit. He knows now that the dream he had once chased on the streets of St. Louis has transformed into something even more meaningful, to the enduring legacy of service. Marlon’s serendipitous journey through life tells him that his journey is far from over...
The Olympic Volunteer Experience
Follow Marlon’s Olympic Volunteer Experience as it unfolds in real-time at The Horizon Calls | Let’s GEAUX YouTube channel under "The Olympic Volunteer Experience" playlist.
Learn more about how Marlon became an Olympic Volunteer in “How I Became an Olympic Volunteer” on The Horizon Calls.com.
– The Beginning –
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Great Story!!!
Keep living your Olympic Dreams . I'm proud of your service to humanity.