Awesome Athletes: Tyson Gay

I'm guessing that if you're Mr. And Mrs Gay, you'd be wanting to give your son the most macho name you could think of. And you can't get much more macho then 'Tyson'. I suppose Butch was another option, but then again that was never going to sound good...

Obvious jokes asside though, Tyson Gay has been threatening to become a world class sprinter for about two years now. Up until last year I thought of him predominantly as a 200m runner, but it looks like he has upped the acceleration and found the 'final forty' speed that is vital in today's 100m races.

When Justin Gatlin was caught cheating and banned I felt like we had been robbed of seeing him and Asafa Powell pushing each other to faster and faster times. I think the whole Track and Field world felt the same; Jamaican Powell was a step above everyone else in terms of 100m speed but he had never been able to beat Justin 'The Gun' Gatlin.

Now though, after Gay's impressive 9.76 time at the Reebok Grand Prix last Saturday, we can expect a new challenger to enter the fray. I don't want to talk about 'nearly' world records and all that - It was a wind assisted time, there's a reason they have a rule against that, but what Gay's time does show is that he has found the next level and is ready to push Powell for the title of 'World's Fastest Man', which is something we'd all like to see.

[The Japan Times]