Gay out to track down the Bolt

In another time, another era, American sprinter Tyson Gay might have been the unbeatable one, the toast of the track world.

Instead, his prime years just happen to coincide with the rise of Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sensation who's smashing world records and distancing himself from Gay, along with anyone else who steps into the starting blocks.

Gay's times are great. His timing? Not so much.

Not his fault, of course. It routinely happens to the best of sprinters.

Ato Boldon certainly knows the feeling, having once been in Gay's spot. Boldon came along in a period that included US stars Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene.

If not for them, Boldon might be a household name. If not for them, he might have more gold medals.

"How many people in different eras in sports would've been the best ever if not for the 'fill-in-the-blank' superstar. With track and field, it's even more so," Boldon said. "Tyson's in the Usain era. It's just unfortunate. I feel more sympathy for Tyson Gay than any other athlete of any other era. I look at him on film, and how he competes, and how much he's improved since Bolt came on the scene. Still, it's not enough."

Gay refuses to give an inch, though.

In fact, he hopes that by holding back a bit this spring he'll be able to power forward later on. He had surgery on his groin in the offseason and has yet to fully push himself in a race.

He may elect to do so on Sunday, when he lines up for a straight 200m race at the Great City Games in Manchester, England. He's chasing Tommie Smith's 44-year-old mark of 19.5 seconds, an unofficial mark because only 200s run around a curve are recognized by the IAAF. Gay's top time in a sanctioned 200 is 19.58.

"I haven't really sprinted just yet," the 27-year-old Gay wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

He embraces the challenges that Bolt brings, admitting his rival's presence only makes him better, makes him stronger. Despite an ailing groin last season, Gay lowered his American record in the 100, breaking the tape in 9.69 seconds at a meet in Shanghai.

In any other era, that would've been the mark to beat. Yet all it did was equal Bolt's old record, the one he set at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Bolt's new time to chase stands at 9.58, which he set at the world championships in Berlin last summer.

"I've said it many times - Usain has made me better because he has forced me and other sprinters to change the way we think," Gay said in the email. "I need to just keep working on my race - my start, my drive phase and my technique."

Asked what his expectations are for the 2010 season - a year in which there is no major championship - Gay simply responded, "To get faster, to stay healthy and enjoy sprinting."

There was a time when Gay was beating Bolt, taking the 200 crown at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan, by 0.15 of a second over the Jamaican.

That seems long ago, before Bolt became the sprinter he is today - the man no one can really catch. Bolt also owns the world record in the 200, too, churning down the track in Berlin in 19.19.

With his 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) frame and propulsion out of the block, Bolt has completely changed the mold of what a sprinter was supposed to look like. That's what makes him so unique, so dominant.

Boldon recently wrote a column in which he said Bolt could slip into the mid 9.4s before his career is done. Boldon's best time in the 100 was 9.86.

"You're talking about a once-in-a-lifetime person - the numbers continue to boggle the mind," Boldon said.

Each time Gay gets close to closing the gap, Bolt simply takes the sport to another level.

Really, Bolt's only competition these days is the clock. He's become that untouchable.

"Will somebody catch Bolt? Maybe if he's out late the night before in Europe. Then maybe you catch him," Boldon said. "In terms of a championship and he's healthy, no way. The only one making inroads is Tyson. But it seems like every time he takes a step toward his target, the target moves."

It just might be time for a new target, maybe the sprinters in the 400?

That's the thing: Gay was splendid in that distance during an April race in Gainesville, Florida, turning in a personal-best 44.89.

With that performance, he became the first sprinter to go under 10 seconds in the 100, 20 seconds in the 200 and 45 seconds in the 400.

Finally, something Bolt hasn't done.

Associated Press