Leg cramp in 200 heat spoils Gay's bid for Beijing double

AFP, July, 2008

EUGENE, Oregon (AFP) — There will be no golden double for world 100- and 200-meter champion Tyson Gay at the Beijing Olympics after a severe left hamstring cramp Saturday at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Gay fell to the track in the curve of his 200 quarter-final heat, stunning more than 20,000 spectators at Hayward Field and sparking fears that an injury would doom an Olympic 100 showdown with Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.

But Mark Wetmore, Gay's agent, said there was no apparent major damage and released a statement from Gay saying that he had noticed a twinge in the hamstring before the race.

"Before I went out on the track I felt a little tightness in my hamstring, so I had kind of a bad feeling," Gay said. "When I came off the curve...