EUGENE, Ore. - Probably the guy least impressed with the fastest 100 meters in history is the guy who actually ran it.
Tyson Gay shrugged, flashed an awkward smile and was generally dismissive after winning the 100 at the U.S. Olympic Trials yesterday in a preposterous 9.68 seconds (you read that right), which would be a world record had the Hayward Field wind gauge not read plus-4.1 meters per second - over the allowable limit of 2.0 mps for record purposes.
But this is Gay, who breaks records and also breaks the mold of your typical world-class sprinter - the trash-talking, gesture-making, self-promoting, expletive-spewing mass of tattooed muscles. Gay, 25, is a mama's boy from Arkansas who goes to church, watches what he eats and gets to bed on time.
He speaks in a near whisper. He lets others provide the superlatives.
"Amazing," said Harvey Glance, a gold-medal sprinter from the 1976 Olympics and now an assistant U.S. sprint coach. "That's a pretty historic moment. I don't care what conditions you are running in. Nine-six is extraordinary."
Or as Jon Drummond, one of Gay's coaches, put it: "We need to get some kind of flame-retardant uniform in case he catches on fire, he's running so doggone fast."
Gay's humility yesterday was rooted in his upbringing, and also in what happened the day before in the opening round of the 100. Gay was comfortably ahead, crossed the white line and slowed down.
Except it was the wrong white line, the start for the mile instead of the finish for the 100. He had another 10 meters to go, and the rest of the field was rapidly closing. Gay cranked up his legs again and leaned for the real finish line with four others. After officials reviewed the finish photo, he was given fourth place - and the top four in each heat advanced.
Soon Gay was receiving a verbal spanking from Drummond. "Champions," Drummond told him, "don't do that."
But Drummond has been harping something else over the last few months of practice in Arlington, Texas: Nine-six.
Gay ran a wind-legal 9.77 in the quarterfinals on Saturday, breaking Maurice Greene's American record. He went 9.85 in yesterday's semifinals, then ripped off the 9.68.
The world record in wind-legal conditions is the 9.72 by Jamaica's Usain Bolt in New York last month. The fastest 100 under any conditions previously belonged to Obadele Thompson, a sprinter from Barbados who more recently was in the news for marrying Marion Jones. Thompson's 9.69 came in El Paso in 1996, with the benefits of lower air resistance from altitude (El Paso is 3,695 feet above sea level) and a 5.7 mps tailwind.
What would Gay have run had the 100 final been contested five minutes later, when the breeze was at allowable levels?
A few years back, an exercise physiologist and mathematician devised tables to estimate the aiding value of altitude and wind in the 100. Gay's 9.69 equates to 9.86 at sea level with no wind. Bolt's world record, which had a 1.7 mps tailwind, equates to a 9.80.
It's the kind of computation Gay likes, because, in his way of thinking, it allows him to remain out of the media glare. Let Bolt and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell bask in it.
"I still don't think I have a lot of pressure on me because I ran that time," Gay explained. "It was wind-aided. When we go into the next races, (Bolt) is still the world-record holder."
Another reason is that everyone else ran fast yesterday. Walter Dix was second in 9.80, Darvis Patton third in 9.84, Travis Padgett fourth in 9.85. Two others went under 10 seconds, making it the fastest 100 race ever run under any conditions.
Patton, who shares a training track with Gay but not necessarily his humility, wasn't buying the tailwind argument.
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