Eyeing the finishing line: 3 contenders and one goal

GET SET GO: Three strong contenders have made sure that all eyes will be on them in the 100 metres.

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Keywords: Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell

New Delhi: The 100 metres has always been the most eagerly awaited event of any Olympics and this time three strong contenders have made sure that all eyes will be on them.

Three men, all with the same goal will sprint towards the finish line of the 100 metres in the shortest time possible and be crowned Olympic Champion.

Among them, current world record holder Usian Bolt, Commonwealth Games Gold medalist Asafa Powell and world champion Tyson Gay will compete for the title of the fastest man of the 29th Olympiad at the showpiece event the men’s 100 metres.

Usian Bolt, who is just 22, has already been named the lightening bolt. If one watches him play football on the beaches of Kingston Jamaica, he seems a normal guy. However, if one puts him on the tracks, he seems to just bolt. He ran the 100 metres this year at a jaw dropping 9.72 seconds making a world record that was enough to make him the top gun.

However, his biggest competition would be Tyson Gay, the 26-year-old sprinter who won three gold medals at the world championships last year and has run the third fastest 100 metres ever at 9.77 seconds. The US Olympic trials last month saw him run a wind aided 9.68 seconds, the fastest 100 metres ever.

And rounding off the trio is the man who has famously always failed to deliver at the biggest stage. The other Jamaican Asafa Powell was the favourite at Athens four years back. He finished fifth, he bounced back by breaking the world record, and he lowered it again in 2007 at 9.74 seconds but again missed out in the world championships finishing third.

But after losing his world record, Powell will be smarting and Beijing is the biggest stage to settle scores.