Olympics: Pressure is on the Jamaicans - Gay

American world champion Tyson Gay believes it is his two great Jamaican rivals who should be feeling most of the pressure ahead of their eagerly-awaited Olympic 100m showdown.

Despite insisting he is fully recovered from a hamstring injury, Gay comes into the Beijing Games without having raced since the US trials early last month when he broke down in the 200m.

In the intervening five weeks, the spotlight has shone brightest on world record holder Usain Bolt and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell.

"I don't know how (Usain) is taking it but I would assume it's a lot of pressure," Gay said today.

"Regardless of what anybody says, people in his country and even other countries are expecting him to come home with that gold medal.

"I spoke to someone from Jamaica in the cafeteria yesterday and he mentioned, `I hope you don't mess up our sweep, our one-two'.

"We laughed about it, (coach Jon Drummond) and I, but I'm pretty sure they're hearing the same thing, they're hoping to go one-two.

"And Asafa has been wanting that gold medal for a long time."

Powell is looking for redemption after panicking in last year's world championships 100m final when he faded to third behind Gay and Derrick Atkins from the Bahamas.

"I don't see him saying he doesn't have any pressure on him coming into the race or Usain Bolt's got the pressure on," said Gay, who turned 26 last Saturday.

"I don't buy into that too much because Asafa Powell had the world record, Usain Bolt now has the world record and that's something that Asafa Powell held close to him ... it was very dear to him.

"So I think he's under a little pressure to get the record back."

Gay suffered the hamstring injury in the 200m at the US trials in July 5, meaning that -- unlike Bolt -- he can concentrate solely on the 100m in Beijing.

The injury came only a few days days after he clocked a stunning wind-assisted time of 9.68 seconds in the 100m final at the trials, the day after breaking the American record with a run of 9.77sec.

Gay pulled out of a planned race in London on July 25, preferring to spend time with famed German sports physician Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfarth, who has also treated Australian hurdling star Jana Rawlinson.

But he insists he is 100 percent fit for the stellar 100m triple-header in Beijing featuring the fastest three men ever over 100m.

Bolt, Powell and Gay own the eight quickest 100m times in history, with 2000 Olympic champ Maurice Greene (9.79s) the only other man to have recorded a legal run under 9.80s.

"There hasn't been this much hype around the 100 metres in a long time," said Gay.

"Asafa Powell is a very dominant strong runner, Usain Bolt has lit up the track.

"Those two guys have done things that a lot of people have never seen before.

"And myself, I have one world championship under my belt and now I am the American record holder so I fall into that class of the 9.7 runners along with Maurice Greene.

"That's what is making it so amazing."

Gay, the reigning 100m and 200m world champion, was in the field when Bolt set the current world record of 9.72 in New York in May.

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