Run to Win

Many fans and athletes are getting fed up with the seemingly constant stream of doping scandals that have been hurting the sport of Track & Field over the past few years. Tyson Gay wants to do something about it.

He has offered a guarantee that nobody will ever find any illegal substances in his body.

“One hundred percent guarantee,” he said. “Everything you do in the dark comes to light and I think a lot of people in this sport have really seen that. You can’t get away with that kind of thing, it’s going to come out no matter how hard you try to hide it.”

Tyson Gay wants to be the first double-gold medalist in the Olympic 100m and 200m since Carl Lewis did in back in 1984. He isn’t worried about the pollution in Beijing, and he hopes to better Asafa Powell‘s mark of 9.74 seconds in the 100 meters. Holding Powell off will be no mean trick, though, and if it was a choice between a world record or a gold medal, he knows which he’d prefer.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Triple Gold Medalist at the Osaka championships this year, Tyson Gay has been elected the 2007 Athlete of the Year by the IAAF.

“I had been so scared. Scared of losing. I had ran very well at the US championships, but this was another dimension. I did not want to disappoint. I had watched Powell progress through the qualifying rounds and it was obvious he was in great shape. I’ll never live through such an intense moment again!”
[...]
Regarding his next meetings with Powell, he says. ”I think we can expect to see some fabulous races. I am sure that we shall come face to face on the track before the Games, and I sincerely believe that Asafa will be ready and psyched up, and that I too am capable of running 9.7. Both of us will be under huge pressure in Beijing: he is the World record holder, and needs the Olympic title, whereas I beat him in Osaka and am just as desperate for that Olympic gold medal…”

(Source: IAAF)

Tyson Gay followed up his gold medal in the 100 meters with another gold in the 200 meter race yesterday in Osaka. Usain Bolt of Jamaica came on hard after a bad start, but Tyson Gay was able to keep a lead of about 2-hundredths of a second to win the goal.

Jeremy Wariner took in the gold in the 400 meter race as he led an American sweep despite being the last person off of the line. He ran a personal best 43.46 seconds, which is the fastest on a track so far this year. LaShawn Merritt and Angelo Taylor took the silver and bronze medals.

Yesterday at the U.S. Track & Field Championships, Tyson Gay ran away from Wallace Spearmon to run 200 meters in 19.62 seconds, a meet record and second only to the world record 19.32 that Michael Johnson set in 1996.

“The time was excellent. The race was excellent, too,” Gay said. “I wasn’t thinking about any time. I was trying to get away from Wallace Spearmon as fast as I could.”

Tyson Gay ran about 22.8 miles per hour in his win. I hope that his season continues to go so well and that we see a new mark set some time in the near future. Hopefully, the entire field of the fastest sprinters will be healthy at the next competition.

(Source: ESPN.com)

Asafa Powell has run 100 meters in 9.77 seconds for the third time, this time in Zurich at the Weltklasse Golden League meet earlier today.

“It felt good out there,” said Powell, who led from start to finish, with American Tyson Gay finishing second in a personal best of 9.84. [...] His latest record run came despite an arduous trip from Jamaica, which took three days because of disruptions caused by the alleged terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from London.

He is coming close to setting a new world record. He is consistently matching his current record, which only one other person has managed to run so far. Justin Gatlin broke the record on May 12 in 9.76, but his time was raised by a second after it was discovered that there had been a rounding error. Now, Gatlin stands to lose his record due to doping charges, in which case Asafa Powell will sit alone at the top again.

I expect that we will see a new record by the end of this year. Asafa Powell is absolutely dominating the distance right now. Hopefully he will set a new record and can own it by himself, so that people can mention his feat (which he has owned for over a year now) without bringing Gatlin into the conversation.

(Source: BBC News)

The 200m Men’s Final was run earlier today in Helsinki, Finland at the world championships. The United States swept the field by taking the top four positions. Justin Gatlin (USA) is only the second man to take the 100m-200m double at the world championships, which was last done in 1999 by Maurice Green (USA). Gatlin won the event in 20.04 seconds. He was followed by teammates Wallace Spearmon (USA) in 20.20, John Capel (USA) in 20.31, and Tyson Gay (USA) in 20.34. Capel was the first off the line, followed by Tobias Unger (GER).

Gatlin is also competing in the 4x100m relay tomorrow. The final for the 4x100m relay will be on Saturday.