It isn’t by chance Tyson Gay will come to the starting line this week in a uniform inspired by the one Jesse Owens wore in 1936.
Gay would like to make some history himself.
No man has won the 100 and 200 meters at the same U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials since Carl Lewis in 1984, when Gay was 2 years old.
The Owens touch befits the soft-spoken Gay, who swears he talks to just about everyone in USA track and field. Unlike recent sprinters, he’s much less likely to spout off about his latest accomplishments, even if they’re turning out to be some of the finest in history.
“It’s just the way I was raised,” he said.
Turns out his feet are pretty good at making those kinds of statements.
Gay became the fourth man in history to be a triple winner at the same world championship after taking gold in the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay last summer in Osaka. He was rewarded with USA Track and Field’s highest individual honor – the Jesse Owens Award. Saturday, he set the crowd abuzz after running an American record 9.77 seconds in the 100m. He’s the odds-on favorite to win in Eugene and make his first Olympic team.
Even with his transcendent success, he’s not too stubborn to admit he’s as nervous now as he was in 2004 as a junior at Arkansas “just trying to make the team.”
His goals are simple enough: Win, run fast and stay healthy.
“It’s more like I’m more nervous about myself,” he said. “I know I’ve put in the work and I know Jon Drummond (his coach) has told me there’s nothing left to do.”
Gay may seem like he’s done it all, but he’s never competed at Hayward Field before. He’s heard stories of Steve Prefontaine and packed grandstands, but he’ll get his first shot to experience it this weekend.
For all but 9.72 seconds of his lead-up to Hayward Field this season, Gay has been spectacular.
Healthy since April, after recovering from a foot injury, Gay won the 100 and 200 at the Adidas Track Classic, then took first in the 200 in Kingston, Jamaica on May 3. He’s run the third and second fastest times in the world this season in the 100 and 200, behind only Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who ran a world-record 9.72 seconds in the 100 on May 31 in New York City.
Gay finished second in that race with 9.85, only a .01 off his lifetime best, but he might as well have been running in a different race. He called it a “blowout.”
It forced Drummond, another coach (Lance Brauman) and Gay to re-examine his technique in the first 10 meters of his race, an adjustment he believes puts him in a 9.7-range race that could yield a gold medal in Beijing.
“Drummond basically said ‘If no one else was in the race, I wouldn’t have seen the technical things you did wrong, ’cause it would’ve looked like you blew the rest of the field out,’” Gay said. “‘But since he won, I seen what he did right and I can look at what you did wrong.’
“(Bolt) took a lot of pressure off of me, and I appreciate that,” he said.
Gay knows Bolt is as fast as anyone on any given night. Where he sees his advantage is his experience running multiple rounds of qualifying for two events, something his 21-year-old competitor hasn’t had to do.
“He hasn’t proven he can run for eight rounds, and I have, and I think that’s the key,” he said.
All attention will be on Gay in the men’s sprints after former world record holder Justin Gatlin’s bid to run in the Trials was blocked by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Thursday. Gatlin’s presence would have taken attention away from deserving athletes, Gay said.
“I believe if Justin Gatlin so-called ‘loved the sport,’ I think he would do what’s right and let these people and myself have their moment,” Gay said.
But Gatlin is the least of his worries. If Gay wants to chase down Carl Lewis, he’ll have to outrun college teammate Wallace Spearmon in the 200 first.
As college teammates at Arkansas four years ago, Gay broke the Razorbacks’ 200-meter school record before Spearmon broke it the very next day. Their competition hasn’t changed since, but their relationship has. As competition, the two respect each other’s talents admirably. But since Gay switched coaches, “it’s a little bit different now,” he said. “I haven’t really had a real strong relationship with Wallace Spearmon.
“We have two different tactics to win the same event. Wallace Spearmon says he has the best finish in the game, and I guess we have to see.”
The whole world will be watching.
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