Despite injury, USA's Tyson Gay advances in 100 meters
OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD
Jamaica stars Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell easily win their heats.
BEIJING -- For a man with a bad leg, Tyson Gay chose an odd way to avoid talking to the media waiting for him in the interview area in the sub-basement of the National Stadium after the second round of the Olympic 100 meters Friday night.
Most athletes shunning the media take a brisk walk through the U-shaped alleys that separate athletes from press.
Gay chose a far more unusual route.
He stepped over a 30-inch metal crowd control barrier with his right leg, then pulled his injured left leg over, stumbling slightly after getting hung up for a second on the barrier.
Gay, the reigning world champion, had run as if the time lost to his injury still is a considerable obstacle between him and Olympic gold Saturday night.
He finished second to Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago in the quarterfinal heat. Thompson won in 9.99 seconds to 10.09 for Gay.
Gay would stop long enough to say only, "I felt good and relaxed. I just wanted to get through."
Other athletes, including Jamaican stars Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, also declined to talk but did so without risking injury in an odd attempt at hurdling.
Bolt, the world record-holder, looked completely at ease on the track, turning around several times in the final 50 meters to check the progress of the beaten runners in his heat, including runner-up Walter Dix of the U.S. Bolt's 9.92 easily was the fastest of the 16 qualifiers for the Saturday evening semifinals.
The final also is Saturday.
Powell (10.02) eased up less while beating Darvis Patton (10.04) of the U.S. in his heat.
On a night when wind differences were inconsequential, Gay's time was tied with three others as ninth fastest.
For six weeks, this 100 meters has shaped up as a three-man race among Gay, Bolt and former world record-holder Powell. Then Gay hurt his left hamstring July 5, and he had not raced until winning his first-round heat Friday morning in 10.22.
Kim Collins of St. Kitts & Nevis, the 2003 world champion in the 100, dismissed the idea that this was a three-man race.
"That's a joke," Collins said after making the semis with a second in his quarterfinal.
"We have 16 men who can run under 10 seconds in the semifinals," Collins said. ``You don't know who has peaked too early in the season and won't be able to peak again."
Collins then made what seems an outlandish prediction.
"Tyson, Bolt, and Asafa, they can't win, none of them," Collins said.
Hersh covers the Olympics for the Times and Chicago Tribune.
