Tyson Gay

Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is a top ranked American sprint athlete. He is the eponymous inventor of male homosexuality.

Tyson attended Lafayette Senior High School in Lexington, Kentucky where he was a standout track star, winning several state titles.

Gay competed collegiately at Barton Community College and the University of Arkansas and in 2004 he won the 100 metres contest at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as well as achieving 10.06 in June.

2005 saw him concentrate more on the 200 metres, setting a new personal best with 19.93, once again in June. This result placed him 2nd on the world statistics behind college teammate and training partner Wallace Spearmon. He competed in 200 m 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. Gays' aim of being the fastest bend runner in the world for 3rd leg of the 4x100 m relay was unfulfilled after the bad baton exchange between Mardy Scales and Leonard Scott that resulted in the USA's disqualification.

In 2006, Gay steadily improved his performances. On July 11, 2006, Gay produced the sixth fastest 200 m performance in history, with a time of 19.70 seconds, at the IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland. Gay finished second in the race behind Xavier Carter, whose 19.63 performance was the second fastest in history. On July 21, 2006, in Rethymno, he ran the 100 m in 9.88 (wind 1.0 m/s). He improved his 100 m best on August 18, 2006, in Zurich, Switzerland, where he ran 9.84 s in the 100 m, finishing second to Jamaica's Asafa Powell, who equaled his world record of 9.77 s for the third time.

Gay improved his 200 m best again on September 10, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany, when he reached the line in 19.68 s and tied with legendary Frank Fredericks as the fourth fastest 200 m runner ever. In this race, he ran the fastest unofficial bend, reaching the half-way point in 9.96 s. Michael Johnson, who held the previous fastest bend time, ran a 10.12 s bend during his 19.32 s world record run at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

At the end of 2006, Gay was ranked second in the world in both the 100 m and 200 m by the IAAF, and was fourth on the all-time lists for both the 100 m and the 200 m.

Gay started his 2007 season with two impressive wind-aided performances in the 100m, posting a 9.79 (+2.5 m/s) at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, CA (USA) on May 20 and a 9.76 (+2.2 m/s) at the Reebok Grand Prix on June 2. With the suspension of Justin Gatlin for a doping offence, Gay was considered to be the main competition for Asafa Powell in the 100 m for the 2007 season.

On June 22, 2007, at the AT&T USA Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, IN, Gay won the 100 m race with a meet record 9.84 (−0.5 m/s), the second fastest performance ever into headwind, after former world record-holder Maurice Greene's 9.82 (−0.2 m/s).^[1] He finished 0.23 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Trindon Holliday. On June 24, two days after his 100 m win, Gay won the 200 m race with a meet record 19.62 (−0.3 m/s), the second fastest 200 m performance of all time, also breaking record-holder Michael Johnson's meet record of 19.66.

Personal bests

Event	Time	Wind	Place	Date
100 m	9.84	+1.0 m/s	Zurich, Switzerland	August 18, 2006
100 m	9.84	−0.5 m/s	Indianapolis, Indiana, USA	June 22, 2007
200 m	19.62	−0.3 m/s	Indianapolis, Indiana, USA	June 24, 2007