Olympic star Noah Lyles is the one who got away for the Florida Gators

If you go by the official medal count for the Florida Gators at the Paris Olympics, nine medals have been won by athletes who have donned the Orange and Blue. Not included in the count are the medals won by Katie Ledecky, who is a volunteer coach for the Gators and trains in Gainesville.

There is another honorary Gator making headlines in Paris who once upon a time was all set also to don the Orange and Blue before his career took him down a different path.

Florida Gators: No Lyles Told!

When Noah Lyles won the 100 and 200-meter dash at the track and field world championships last year, he made headlines when he commented at a press conference "You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA finals and they have "world champion" on their head. World champion of what? The United States?"

Trolling or not aside, there is no denying that Lyles is a man who is capable of backing up what he says. With his world championship comments serving as a backdrop, Lyles was able to claim the throne of "World's Fastest Man" earlier this week at the Olympics when he won the gold medal in the 100-meter dash in a photo finish time of 9.79 seconds.

He became the first American in 20 years to win the event at the Olympics and is considered the favorite to also win the gold in the 200-meter dash.

But once upon a time, Lyles was slated to become a Florida Gator. He was born in Gainesville and lived in the 352 for eight years before moving out of state and eventually settling in Virginia.

He ascended to stardom on the high school circuit and ran times of 10.07 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 20.04 seconds in the 200-meter dash.

As a reference point, nobody in Florida ran faster than 10.50 seconds in the 100-meter dash at the state championships in May.

In 2015, Lyles committed to the Gators and was slated to return to Gainesville as a freshman in 2016. However, he finished 4th at the Olympic trials in the 200-meter dash in 2016 and instead turned pro when he signed a contract with Adidas.

Had NIL existed in 2016, there is a solid chance Lyles would have been a Gator. Parker Valby is a recent example of a Gator track star who was able to keep racing for Florida in part because of a NIL deal.

Florida coach Mike Holloway has managed to keep the ship afloat in Gainesville without Lyles and has won the last three NCAA national titles in outdoor track.

But one has to dream how many more titles Florida could have had if Lyles had made it to Gainesville and not turned pro.