EUGENE, Ore. -- Every athlete at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials felt for Tyson Gay, knowing the chill of that sudden strike of pain and the hazy uncertainty that descends while you take stock of your body and desperately hope years of training have not been lost in one swift and terrible instant.
Gay's stumble and fall about 40 meters into his quarterfinal heat of the men's 200 on Saturday was attributed to a muscle cramp in his left leg, and no lasting damage was found. If that's the case, he is far more fortunate than he appeared when he toppled to the Hayward Field track, his number loosened from his back to flutter in the breeze.
"My eyes started to well up," said Lauryn Williams, who watched Gay's race after her 200 quarterfinal, "and I was like, 'Please, God, no, don't take him away from us now. The USA needs him.' "
Fright undoubtedly inflamed Gay's anxiety, as well as a sense of deja vu: He cramped during the 200 in the Olympic trials four years ago and lost a chance to compete in Athens, though it had less impact because he was not the defending world champion in that event, as he is now.
His mishap also stirred memories of the 200 finals at the 2000 U.S. trials, when a much-awaited race between Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene fizzled after Johnson hobbled off the track because of a cramped left hamstring -- at about the same spot Gay did Saturday, starting the curve -- and Greene quit with 80 meters to go because of a strained hamstring.
If it means anything, both went on to win gold medals at Sydney, Greene in the 100 and Johnson in the 400.
Gay, who last week earned a Beijing berth by winning the 100, said in a statement that his leg hurt less when he hit the ground than when he initially felt the pull. That's encouraging for him and for the U.S. track team's medal chances.
He also pronounced himself "very disappointed," and there was a lot of that going around Saturday. Those who avoided disaster, the legions who ran and jumped on bandaged thighs and sore knees, knew that but for the grace of athletic tape and hope, their dreams could have shattered too.
"The Olympics are not about the people that are in shape, it's about what they fought through to get there," said Michelle Perry, who got through the first two rounds of the women's 100 hurdles Saturday with her left leg wrapped from hip to ankle to protect a nearly healed muscle tear.
Some don't make it there at all.
