Tyson Gay giddy after win over Bolt

Posted by Yardie Luke on August 13, 2010 under Jamaica Sports | Comments are off for this article

The way Tyson Gay is reacting to the recent win over Usain Bolt you’d think he just won the Olympic 100m sprint. He has been so elated that his comments have struck me as comical.

Gay did 9.84 seconds to beat Bolt by 0.13 sec and record his first ever win over the World and Olympic champion over 100m.

After the race Gay said, “It feels great to beat Usain but deep down inside I know he is not 100%. I look forward to beating him when he is 100%.”

In an interview with BBC Sports Gay made the comical statement that his beating Bolt was good for the sport and that he was delighted that his fans now have a reason to be happy. “I got to see other people happy. It was a good day for the sport.”

I wonder if there was no Usain Bolt and if Gay was winning ALL the 100m and 200m races if he would think that would be bad for the sport. I also wonder if he would consider slowing in one of his races to give a competitor a chance to win since one person dominating the race is bad for the sport.

Gay should realize that he spends most of his time worrying about beating Bolt. In that “I must beat Bolt” mode he put undue stress on his body and possibly suffered for it.

Usain Bolt did the fastest time in a 100m race when he clocked 9.58 sec at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Berlin.  Gay’s personal best time in the 100m is 9.69 sec in Shanghai. In winning the recent 100m race in a time of 9.84 sec he has proved nothing. Usain Bolt was obviously not near his best.

This is only a mild consolation for Gay. However it sets up a highly anticipated duel in 2011 when the two will compete again.

(Congratulations to Tyson Gay for winning the Diamond League meeting at London’s Crystal Palace in  a time of 9.78 sec. Very soon Gay will also be worrying about the second place finisher Yohan Blake. Blake is only 20 years old. )