By COREY DADE
The major storyline at the world championships for track and field in Berlin this weekend is a possible drag race between Tyson Gay of the U.S. and Usain Bolt of Jamaica in the sport's glamour event, the 100 meters.
If defending champion Mr. Gay loses, as he's widely expected to, it would solidify Mr. Bolt as the "world's fastest man" and the next great international sprint king. At the Beijing Olympics last year, Mr. Bolt obliterated the field to win the gold in a record 9.69 seconds.
But a decisive loss for the U.S. would advance another, darker notion that has been gaining momentum lately: The American dynasty in sprinting, a tradition established by Jesse Owens 73 years ago, is pulling up lame. Former Olympic sprinter Ato Boldon, who will call Sunday's final for NBC, expects Mr. Bolt to win and Mr. Gay to place second. He sees little else coming from the U.S. "It's not a particularly strong team," he says.
Tyson Gay, center, of the U.S. competes in the men’s 200-meter final at the London Grand Prix track and field event last month.
Behind the decline of the U.S. program are accusations of pervasive doping, inferior coaching, lax training habits, and in one high-profile case, a squabble over money. All these private struggles seem to dovetail with the public image of U.S. Sprinters, which has been tending toward arrogance and excess.
The dignity and grace Mr. Owens displayed while triumphing over Nazism at the 1936 Games in Berlin has given way to another image. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, after the U.S. team won the men's 4x100 relay, the runners pulled off their tops, draped themselves in American flags, struck bodybuilding poses and strutted about the track.
