Tyson Gay is having an identity crisis, and it has nothing to do with his last name. The American was supposed to be the great sprinter of his time. Then along came Usain Bolt. Gay has talked a lot about how he’s going to beat Bolt and regain the world’s-fastest-man title. And when Gay beat Bolt at a meet in Stockholm a few weeks ago, he finally had something to crow about (of course, he wasn’t talking about his sub-par time of 9.84, the fact that Bolt never races well on that track, or that Bolt was injured).
Now Gay is talking about running the 400m. Why? Ten bucks says it’s to move his legacy away from Bolt. Gay knows he will always be a footnote in the career that is one of the greatest sprinters of all time. So what better way to build his resume than to be the incredibly rare sprinter who competes in the 100m, 200m and 400m? Michael Johnson won the 200m and 400m. But all three? It’s just not done at the World Championship level. Since Gay will never break Bolt’s world-record times, and since he will never accomplish what Bolt did at the Olympics, it’s his only shot to get out from Bolt’s shadow.
Of course, Bolt has also talked about the long jump and 400m himself for after the London Olympics. Think these two have a rivalry going?
on Aug 27th, 2010 at 4:56 PM
Maybe some little J U I C E could solve Gay’s micro-seconds problem. LOL.
on Aug 27th, 2010 at 7:51 PM
There is only one man in the world that can beat Tyson Gay, Think about it? Only 1 man in the world. I say not bad when you don’t have the juice.
on Aug 30th, 2010 at 6:34 PM
wow cyd…his sub par time of 9.84? did you really just type that? 9.84 is NOT sub par
and fyi he wants to run more 4′s so he can be considered on the 4×4 at major championships not to get out of bolt’s shadow which is smart of him considering the US’s inability to get the stick around in the 4×1 the last couple championships might as well try to get on the 4×4
also gay’s been battling injury too and at no point after beating bolt this year did he gloat about it, matter of fact he downplayed it he said it was nice to finally beat him in the 100 but he realizes he’s not 100% so I don’t understand what the point of writing this article was!
gay realizes he’s gotta be as strong as he can possibly be to beat bolt which is another reason he’s including more and more 400s he’s doing what he feels is necessary to try and beat him…this was a horrible article, trying to paint a guy who’s recognized as one of the most humble and hard working as somebody as you say “is having an identity crisis” just cuz he says its a possibility that he would run the 4?
this year Gay became the first EVER sub 10, sub 20 and sub 45 sprinter, he ran a 44 second 400m in his first race of the season which is unheard of for a 100 guy (hell most 400 guys don’t even do that!) so naturally every reporter wants to ask him if he’d consider doing it as his main event and when you run sub 45 in your first 400 of the year when you don’t even focus on that event, the answer should be yes you’d consider it