Top U.S. sprinter injured, out of 200

Tyson Gay accelerated through the first curve. Then he started flying.

Not in the figurative sense, but in an all-too-real way - a shocking sprawl to the ground that cost America's best sprinter an Olympic spot in the 200 meters and made him look like less than a sure thing, healthwise at least, with the Beijing Games five weeks away.

Gay suffered what his manager called a severe cramp in his left hamstring at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials Saturday in Eugene, Ore., and had to be carted off the track. He was at his hotel later, being treated with ice.

"It was just one of those things," Gay said in a statement released through USA Track and Field.

Gay already has qualified for the Olympics in the 100 meters, but his chances at doubling are gone. Now, the nervous wait begins to see if it was, indeed, just a cramp, and how that affects his training over the next month.

"There is no apparent damage otherwise, except for some road rash from the fall," said Gay's manager, Mark Wetmore. "He said he felt a little tightness before the race."

Wetmore said Gay was getting an MRI as a precaution. Results were not immediately available.

"When he wakes up tomorrow, he'll know," said former decathlete Dan O'Brien, who famously missed the Olympics 16 years ago. "He'll be able to stretch it out, he'll be able to move it. If he can't sit on the toilet tomorrow, he's got problems."

Had this been gymnastics, or a number of other sports, an injury at trials wouldn't have ended Gay's chance to make the Olympics in that specific event. But USA Track and Field plays it straight - top three finishers at trials make the Olympics - no exceptions.

It's a black-and-white policy that most athletes accept, though it could end up costing the American team as much as Gay in Beijing. Gay is the defending world champion in the 100 and 200 meters.

Swimming

Michael Phelps will get another shot at Mark Spitz's Olympic record in Beijing. Gary Hall Jr. won't be going to China. Phelps locked up his eight-race schedule by winning the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., powering away on the return lap to easily beat world-record holder Ian Crocker. The winning time was 50.89 seconds, about a half-second slower than Crocker's 3-year-old mark of 50.40.

"This week turned out how I wanted it to," Phelps said. "I'm ready for the challenge that lies ahead of me. At the Olympics, it's going to be harder than it was here. It's a higher level. And you add the relays in there, and it's the Olympic Games. Hopefully, it's something I can be successful at."

Phelps added to his wins in the 200 and 400 individual medleys, 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly. He's also expected to swim all three relays, giving him another shot at Spitz's record of 7 gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps just missed in 2004, winning 6 golds and 2 bronzes.

Although Phelps had to be content with setting two world records in Omaha, Margaret Hoelzer put her name in the book with a stunning win in the 200 backstroke.

The 25-year-old got a great surge off the wall heading into her third lap, then closed strong to finish in 2:06.09, beating the record of 2:06.39 set by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in February. It was the ninth world record of the meet.

Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Beisel, a rising star in American swimming, rallied to take the second Olympic spot in 2:06.92. Hard-luck Hayley McGregory finished third again, matching her finish in the 100 back and costing her a berth on the Beijing team.

Hall, too, was denied and won't get a chance to go for his third straight Olympic gold in the 50 freestyle. The 33-year-old iconoclast came on deck wearing a red, white and blue cape and used his hands as six-shooters, hoping to take down his younger rivals in his only event of the trials. But Garrett Weber-Gale touched first with an American record of 21.47, while defending world champion Ben Wildman-Tobriner took the second Olympic spot in 21.65. Cullen Jones, who set the previous U.S. mark of 21.59 in Friday's preliminaries, was third in 21.81, while Hall settled for fourth in 21.91. He slapped the water in disgust and dunked his head but had a big smile on his face when he climbed from the water after perhaps the final race of a brilliant career.

Ever the showman, the 10-time Olympic medalist announced his retirement - sort of. "This is my last race," Hall said. Then, after a long, dramatic pause, he added, "until I race again."

Dara Torres, 41, continued her remarkable comeback, setting an American record in the 50 freestyle semifinals. The mark fell three times during the day, finally winding up back where it started - in Torres' name when she did one furious lap in 24.38. She'll have a chance to take it lower in the finals today, the final night of the meet. Then it's on to Beijing.