The fall guy

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EUGENE, Ore. -- Jon Drummond, a 2000 U.S. Olympic sprint relay gold medalist, called himself an adviser or technical consultant or whatever before the U.S. Olympic trials.

On Sunday, he admitted to the title, ‘coach.’’

‘This has been an emotional week for me,’’ Drummond said after enduring his first trials as a coach.

One of his athletes, Tyson Gay, set a U.S. record in the 100 quarterfinals, then ran faster than anyone ever had (although wind-aided) to win the 100 final, then tumbled to the track with a leg cramp in the 200, knocking him out of the Olympics in that event.

Another of his athletes, Marshevet Hooker, missed a place in the Olympic 100 by one place and 3/100ths of a second. Then she dove across the finish line of the 200 to get third -- and an Olympic place by 1/100th of a second.

‘Tyson is fine,’’ Drummond said. ‘Tyson ran six’ -- actually 5 1/4 -- ‘races and I don’t think it’s anything more than natural soreness. He fell, and when you fall, the body goes into shock. I think the shock was he fell, and it scared everybody, because he went down pretty hard.

‘The good thing is that initial injuries usually happen when athletes try to stop. The fact he just fell was the saving grace on all of this.’’

Drummond was beside himself with excitement over Hooker’s finish in the 200.

‘She made this Olympic team on a dive,’’ Drummond said. ‘I thought that was pretty phenomenal.’’

Drummond, never at a loss for a quip, noted that Hooker had followed the example of Christian Smith, who got into the Summer Games with a headlong lunge to take third in the men’s 800 last week.

‘That kid in the 800 starts a little domino effect,’’ Drummond said. ‘It’s like this is the Fall Olympics.’’

-- Philip Hersh