EUGENE, Oregon - World 200 metres champion Tyson Gay said on Sunday he expected to be fully recovered from a a leg injury in time for next month's Olympics.
Tyson Gay shakes hands with Xavier Carter (R) as he is wheeled off the track after injuring his leg in a men's 200 meters quarter-final heat at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, July 5, 2008. [Agencies] |
"I'll be 100 percent for the 100 and 400 (metres) relay," Gay told NBC television at the US Olympic trials.
Gay, the trials' 100 metres winner, was dumped out of the 200 metres quarter-finals on Saturday. Under strict USA Track and Field qualifying procedures, only the three finalists in an event make the American team.
Gay said he felt a twinge in his left hamstring before the race, but ran even though coach Jon Drummond suggested he reconsider if there was a problem.
"I thought it would go away once I warmed up," the world 100 and 200 metres champion said. "By the time I came off the blocks, 20, 25 metres into the race, my hamstring pulled up."
Gay's injury originally was called a severe cramp, but an MRI scan determined he suffered a mild strain in his left leg, his management company said in a statement.
"He is expected to engage in 'active rest' for up to 12-14 days, with light physical activity increasing through that period, and then resume training," the statement said.
Tyson's only confirmed pre-Olympic competition, the 100 metres meeting with former world record holder Asafa Powell in London, "is still on the schedule," the statement added.
US men's Olympic coach Bubba Thornton said he was confident would be on the line when qualifying in the 100 metres begins in Beijing on August 15.
"Time is on his side," Thornton told reporters.
