Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

BEIJING — Tyson Gay, out of Lafayette High School in Lexington, told Olympic reporters Monday that the left hamstring he strained at last month’s U.S. Olympic Trials is “100 percent now.”

So he’s ready to take on world record-holder Usain Bolt (9.72) and his Jamaican countryman, former world record-holder Asafa Powell (9.74).

“I think this is one of the hottest 100-meter dashes in history,” Gay said.

Track and field competition, including the 100-meter dash, begins Friday.

Tyson Gay answered questions at a press conference in the Main Press Center on Monday, August 11, 2008, before competing in the Games of the the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, China.

Among those who’ll be watching is a certain Team USA basketball player.

“Kobe Bryant came up to me and asked me how my leg was doing. That was crazy,” Gay said. “He said he was going to come and check out the track meet. This is the best experience I’ve ever had in my life.”

Gay has not raced since the Trials, where he went down during the quarterfinals of the 200-meter dash. After spending most of the last month being treated by a hamstring specialist in Germany and undergoing massage therapy, he says he’s confident his leg will hold up through four rounds.

At the U.S. Trials, Gay set an American record of 9.77 in the quarterfinals. He ran the fastest 100 of all time in the finals, although it was wind-aided and didn’t count as a world record.

He is the reigning World Champion in the 100 and 200, but his injury would seem to shift the pressure to Powell.

“Regardless of what anybody says, people in his country and most other countries are expecting him to come home with that gold medal,” Gay said. “A guy from Jamaica came up to me in the (Athletes Village) cafeteria yesterday and mentioned, ‘I hope you don’t break up our sweep. You know, 1-2.’ We laughed about it and joked around. But I’m pretty sure that’s a real thing. I mean, Asafa Powell has been around for a long time. He’s been a world record-holder and that means a lot to him. Usain Bolt is a guy who likes to have a lot of fun, but he is the world record-holder now and he’ll try to hold onto that.”

This entry was posted on August 11, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Kentucky, Kobe Bryant, Lexington, Olympics, Track and field, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.