Usain Bolt & Tyson Gay expected to square off again

He'd just run 100 meters faster than any American in history and lost, yet Tyson Gay had no time or inclination to sulk.

He was proud of his race, and pleased with his performance as a track and field prognosticator.

"I'm really happy that Usain Bolt broke the record," Gay said of the Jamaican's blistering 9.58-second romp at the IAAF World Championships in track and field Sunday. "I know that may sound strange. I knew it was humanly possible for somebody to run that fast. Unfortunately, it wasn't me."

Gay's time in Berlin's fabled Olympic Stadium, where Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games, was 9.71 seconds. He sliced off .06 seconds from the American record he equaled this summer and is the second-fastest man of all time.

"I gave it my best and I still know I have a lot left in the tank," said Gay, who like all the American athletes is wearing a "JO" patch on his uniform to honor Owens.

Gay's time was even more remarkable considering he ran through the excruciating pain of a groin injury that has hampered him the last few weeks.

"In the final, I just tried to block everything down and give it my all because there wasn't that much left," Gay said.

The Kentucky native will consult with his doctors to see if it's wise to run the preliminary rounds of the 200 meters, which start Tuesday morning.

Gay has the top time in the 200 this year, clocking 19.58 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in June in New York. But there are four rounds in the 200 - just like the 100 - and Gay will be needed on the U.S. 4 x 100 relay that was disqualified at the 2008 Olympics.

The Americans were disqualified when Darvis Patton attempted to pass the baton to Gay, who was anchoring the relay, but Patton dropped the baton. Gay doesn't want the Americans to make the same mistake twice.

"When we have American pride we don't want to let America down by not bringing home as many medals as we think we should," Gay said. "So we all want to redeem ourselves and show our true talents.

"I believe we will do so."

After all, Gay doesn't want Bolt taking every one of his titles. Gay, who just turned 27 on August 9, won the 100, 200 and ran a leg on the victorious 4 x 100-meter relay at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He beat Bolt, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday on Friday, in the 200, and Bolt was also a member of Jamaica's second-place relay.

Since then, Bolt has surged to the forefront of the sprinting world while injuries slowed Gay down.

Entering the 2008 Olympic year, Gay was the favorite in both sprints while Bolt was seen as a promising -- but inexperienced - youngster who had never specialized in the 100 until now.

At the 2008 Olympic Trials, Gay ran a wind-aided 9.68 seconds, then the fastest time posted under any conditions. But in the 200 quarterfinals, he collapsed a few steps from the blocks and an MRI showed a mild strain. Gay went to Beijing, but did not advance to the 100 final, where Bolt electrified the world with a 9.69 world record.

Gay admitted it was tough watching the show go on without him. It didn't help seeing Bolt ease up at the finish with no one to challenge him. Bolt went on to win the 200 in 19.30 seconds, breaking Michael Johnson's 12-year-old world record. Bolt won his third gold in world-record time as Jamaica took the 4 x 100 relay.

"It was very frustrating what happened in Beijing," Gay said. "I guess it took a little time for me to get over it. But I understand. There's a time for everything, and last year wasn't mine."

This year was looking more favorable. Gay dominated the sprint scene while Bolt recovered from a car accident, which he would have escaped relatively unscathed if not for stepping on a thorn.

Gay had the fastest times in the world in both the 100, set in Rome, and 200 in New York. In the pre-meet news conference in Berlin he predicted the 100 would be "the most exciting race ever."

If he were writing the headline, he said, "I would call it 'Tyson Gay shocks the world'."

"Tyson is not given to braggadocio," said television commentator Dwight Stones. "He's not in that sprinter mode that we've gotten used to over the years. ...But when Gay says he's ready to shock the world, you should listen, because he does not usually say that sort of thing. He did not telegraph what he was ready to do in the 200 meters in New York. He just went out and did it."

But Berlin, so far, has been all Bolt, with Gay in the supporting role in what the German billboards call the "Grosse Duelle." 

"I am very happy people are putting us together: whether I can beat Usain Bolt or not," Gay said. "It's easier to be in a situation where people are comparing me to some great sprinters like Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis or Maurice Greene."

Gay and Bolt are both fast, but their similarities end there. While Bolt, who is 6-5, can be a goofball, Gay, who is 5-11, is much more serious. He may crack a smile for the television camera during his introduction, but that's about it.

In the USA Track & Field media guide, Gay's biography is all stats.  The bios of other athletes, like shot putter Reese Hoffa, have tidbits like, "says his dream is to compete in a bear suit, being brought onto the track in a cage."

"I'm what you'd probably call boring," Gay said. "I don't really flex my muscles too much before the race or anything like that," he said.  "At the same time, I am always the same person."

As for his rival, Gay said, "Bolt is a very unique individual. He is very funny and has a lot of personality. We have a cool relationship. He is a busy man, but when we meet we talk."

Gay said Bolt deserves respect. "What he does on the track is stuff that other people can't do," he said. "And that right there motivates me to train harder, be the best I can be and reach goals that no one else has done before."

Gay is a former Kentucky high school and NCAA champion trains in Fayetteville, Ark., with coaches Lance Brauman and Jon Drummond, an Olympic sprinter who helped him with his start.

"(Bolt) has shown the world what he can do but I have not been able to show all my talent yet," Gay said. "I have no doubt I can compete on his level."

Nor does Bolt.

"I've been competing with Tyson since I came on the scene," Bolt said. "We've been at each other's neck.

"I know next season, it's going to be on."

GOLDEN THROW --- Shot putter Christian Cantwell won the first U.S. gold medal at the World Championships with a throw of 71 feet, 10 ¾ inches. Cantwell, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, topped the man who beat him in Beijing, Tomasz Majewski of Poland.

"I have won medals in the past but not this one," said Cantwell, who overtook Majewski with his fifth throw. "To win it in that fashion is even more exciting."

"Once again, Christian took care of business today, and saved us from going medal-less," said Reese Hoffa, the defending world champion who placed fourth. "Right now, he's the guy. We'll see how he handles the pressure of being champion of the world."

Tags: IAAF World Championships, Tyson Gay, USA Track and Field