Tyson Gay

Medal record
Tyson Gay at the AT&T USA Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis.
Competitor for  United States
Men’s athletics
World Championships
Gold	2007 Osaka	100 m
Gold	2007 Osaka	200 m
Gold	2007 Osaka	4x100 m relay

Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American sprinter who won gold medals at the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4 x 100 meters events at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan. He is sponsored by adidas and is managed by the Boston based sports marketing firm, Global Athletics & Marketing.

Biography

Gay attended Lafayette Senior High School in Lexington, Kentucky where he was an outstanding sprint athlete, winning several state titles. He competed collegiately at Barton Community College and the University of Arkansas and in 2004 he won the 100 meters event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as well as achieving a time of 10.06 seconds in June. In 2005, Gay concentrated more on the 200 meters event, setting a personal best time of 19.93 seconds in June. This result placed him second on the world statistic lists, behind college teammate and training partner Wallace Spearmon. Gay competed in the 200 meters at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and finished fourth to complete an American 1-2-3-4, the first time any nation has achieved this in a world championship athletics event. Gay's aim of being the fastest runner in the world for the third leg of the 4 x 100 meters relay was unfulfilled after the bad baton exchange between Mardy Scales and Leonard Scott that resulted in the United States disqualification in the event. In 2006, Gay steadily improved his performances. On July 11, 2006, he ran a time of 19.70 seconds, at the IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland. Gay finished second place in the race behind Xavier Carter. On July 21, 2006, in Rethymno, he competed in the 100 meters contest in a time of 9.88 seconds. He improved his 100 meters performance on August 18, 2006, in Zurich, Switzerland, where he ran a time of 9.84 seconds, finishing second place to Jamaica's Asafa Powell, who equaled his world record of 9.77 seconds for the third time. Gay continued to improve his 200 meters performance on September 10, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany, when he reached the finish line in a time of 19.68 seconds and tied with Frank Fredericks. In this race, he ran the fastest unofficial time, reaching the half-way mark in 9.96 seconds. Michael Johnson, held the previous fastest time of 10.12 seconds during his 19.32 seconds world record run at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. By the end of 2006, Gay was ranked second in the world in both the 100 meters and 200 meters by the IAAF, and was fourth on the all-time lists for both the 100 meters and the 200 meters. Gay started his 2007 season with two impressive wind-aided performances in the 100 meters achieving a time of 9.79 seconds at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California, United States on May 20, and a unofficial world record time of 9.76 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix on June 2. With the absent and suspension of Justin Gatlin for doping offences, Gay was considered to be the main challenger for Asafa Powell in the 100 meters event in 2007. On June 22, 2007, at the AT&T USA Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, Gay won the 100 meters event with a time of 9.84 seconds, which was at the time the second fastest performance ever into headwind, after former world record-holder Maurice Greene's time of 9.82 seconds. ^[1] He finished 0.23 seconds ahead of second-place contender Trindon Holliday. On June 24, two days after his 100 meters victory, Gay won the 200 meters race with a time of 19.62 seconds making him the second fastest runner in history, in this event. On August 26, 2007 at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka Japan, he defeated world record holder Asafa Powell with a time of 9.85 seconds, to become the new 100 meters world champion. ^[2] Four days later, he ran a new championship record time of 19.76 seconds to win the 200 meters event. Gay became the third sprint athlete in history, along with Maurice Greene and Justin Gatlin, to win both the 100 meters and 200 meters contest at a World Championship track and field competition. ^[3] Two days later, he won his third gold medal on the meet after an American victory in the 4 x 100 meters relay event, achieving a time of 37.78 seconds. ^[4] Gay joined Marita Koch, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Maurice Greene and Allyson Felix, as the only athletes in history to win triple gold medals at a single World Championship competition. In part for his exploits at the 2007 World Championships, Gay was selected as the IAAF male World Athlete of the Year for 2007 ^[5] and the 2007 Men's Athlete of the Year by Track and Field News.

Personal bests

References

Video interviews

• Flotrack Video Interviews of Tyson Gay
• Flotrack Video Interviews of Tyson Gay at the World Championships
• Global Athletics - Osaka World Championships Interviews

External links

• Tyson Gay Official website
• USATF (Athlete Biography): Tyson Gay
• Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc. (Athlete Biography of Tyson Gay)
• IAAF profile for Tyson Gay