Gay skips London to concentrate on Beijing

(BEIJING, July 25) -- United States sprinter Tyson Gay has pulled out of a meeting with his main world sprint challengers at the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday, July 25 to avoid a further injury ahead of Beijing 2008.

Gay, who had a clean sweep of the gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka Japan, won the 100m US trials in June at Eugene, Oregon in 9.68 seconds -- the fastest-ever time ran under any conditions but not included in the records books as it was wind-assisted.

However Gay was injured in his 200m quarterfinal heat at the same trials on July 5 and is currently undergoing treatment in Germany, so has decided not to go head-to-head in London against former world recorder holder, Asafa Powell over 100m.

Powell's fellow Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, the current 100m world record holder (9.72 seconds), will race in the 200m at the Crystal Palace meeting.

"I don't want to risk doing anything to set things back," Gay said. "I apologize to the London fans."