Gay Is Pain-Free, Rested, Ready

Sprinter Is Set For Showdown

BEIJING, Aug. 10 -- In his first public track appearance since falling to the track in agony during the U.S. Olympic track and field trials last month, sprinter Tyson Gay donned a pair of spikes at a downtown training center, ran a full-out 100-meter sprint and declared himself pain-free and nearly back to full health.

Gay ran three hard sprints of 60, 80 and 100 meters on a soggy track at the team's training center at Beijing Normal University during a one-hour workout delayed more than an hour by a driving rain storm.

"I'm very confident," Gay said as he walked from the track to a gymnasium. "I've been looking for an indicator to let me know where my confidence is going to be at, and I think today let me know that."

He said he felt about 85- to 90-percent of the fitness level he had reached before bowing out of the trials during the first round of the 200 on July 5. A week earlier, he had run the fastest time ever in the 100 in any conditions with a wind-aided 9.68 seconds, qualifying for the U.S. team in that event and setting up one of the most talked-about races in the Summer Games.

In a matchup of three track titans, Gay, the reigning world champion, will face world record holder Usain Bolt and former world record holder Asafa Powell. Gay beat both at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, last year, but both have run faster in the 100. Gay set the American record of 9.77 seconds in the quarterfinals at the Olympic trials. Bolt has run a 9.72 and Powell's personal best is a 9.74.

"I'm very excited," Gay said. "This is one of the most anticipated 100-meter dashes in Olympic history, so I think that's bringing a lot of excitement to the sport."

For a while, Gay admitted, he wasn't sure he would be able to participate. Though his handlers declared that he had suffered a severe left hamstring cramp that would cause him to miss just a few days of training, Gay acknowledged Sunday that an MRI exam pinpointed a more serious problem: a slight strain in his tendon.

That diagnosis, he said, gave him a mental jolt, making him realize he wasn't Superman; he couldn't simply train through the pain.

"I had a little bit of doubt," he said.

But the two weeks of recovery time the injury necessitated might have proved more beneficial than he imagined at first.

"I got a lot of rest," he said. "I think that's been good for me. Even if I had run the 200, I'd feel really fatigued."

Gay, also the 200 world champion, trained in virtual silence on a nearly empty track after waiting out the rain with Coach Jon Drummond and training partner Marshevet Hooker under an overhang from the stadium seating. Besides the hard sprints, he did about 10 short sprints of varying intensity.

As Gay burst out of his starting crouch on the second sprint, Drummond shouted, as if impressed. After Gay finished, Drummond stared at his watch and said to U.S. Olympic men's team coach Harvey Glance, "Your watch working?"

Gay said the session focused on technique rather than times. He did not use starting blocks and performed only one 60-80-100 set rather than his customary two. But he was confident he would be in excellent shape by the time the 100 heats kick off on Friday.

"I'm happy with today's workout," Gay said. "Injury-free. No pain."