Michael Phelps, 7 gold medalist asn Beijing Olympics
For Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, it will still be a dream matchup. For Tyson Gay, a bitter disappointment. The American record-holder and defending world champion failed to make the finals of the Olympic 100-meter dash Saturday, finishing .02 second out of fourth place in his semifinal heat and making an early exit from one of the most highly anticipated events of the Beijing Olympics.
Starting in the outside lane, Gay got a decent jump from the blocks and was in the mix early in the race, but Powell and Richard Thompson overtook him and Gay was outleaned at the line by American Darvis Patton, who finished in 10.03 seconds. “I did my best,” Gay said. “I don’t have any excuses.”
It means Gay’s only chance at Olympic medals will come in the relays. He didn’t qualify for the 200, in which he was also the 2007 world champ, because he pulled up lame in prelims with a strained left hamstring at the Olympic trials six weeks ago. Gay, who set the American 100 record at 9.77 earlier at the trials, also ran a wind-aided 9.68—the fastest time in any conditions—in the trials’ 100 final.
In Beijing, he insisted the hamstring was fine and he was ready to go, and he did make it through the first two rounds Friday without a problem. But on Day 2, in front of a packed house at the Bird’s Nest, he did not run like a champion. The photo at the finish showed a sliver of daylight between him and Patton.
Meanwhile swimming superstar Michael Phelps matched Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich Games record of seven gold medals by winning the men’s 100 metres butterfly. Phelps edged Milorad Cavic by just a hundredth of a second in a time of 50 point 58 seconds although the Serbian team lodged a protest over the result. The 23 year old American goes in the final of the four by 100 metres medley looking to win his eighth gold. Cavic won silver and Australia’s Andrew Lauterstein bronze.
