By Eddie Pells
Carson, California - A knee injury cost sprinter Tyson Gay six weeks of training at the beginning of the year, and with the 2009 season starting soon, the American record-holder still hasn't set his schedule.
He is aiming to be 100 percent for the world championships in August, which could be his next chance to line up with three-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Usain Bolt.
Gay said he hurt his left knee while training last November, trying to get in shape after a disappointing Beijing Olympics in which he didn't win a medal and didn't even make the finals in his signature event, the 100 meters.
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"The first week of training, I think I was going too hard," Gay said this week. "I felt good the first week. We were doing great and I was going hard. But probably too hard for the first week. It was just a mistake I made knowing it was a big year, trying to step it up when I just should have relaxed and eased into it."
The injury means it will be at least a few more months before he's completely healthy - and that will mark the first time since he was in the starting blocks of the US Olympic trials in the 200 preliminaries. As he entered the first turn, he sprawled to the track, victim of a hamstring injury that essentially ruined his season.
"I didn't think it was going to be that bad because the initial pull really, really hurt, but the next day it felt better," Gay said. "But a little later, when we got a second opinion, I noticed a little bit of the tendon was torn, as well. That's what made the process take so long."
But Gay kept pressing on, knowing he wasn't in race shape by the time he reached the Olympics but not wanting to bow out of what was supposed to be a history-making race between three men - himself, Bolt and Jamaica's Asafa Powell.
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