Tyson Gay's performance in Eugene promises a serious challenge to Usain Bolt in Beijing. Bill Frakes/SI

EUGENE, Ore. -- The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials resume Thursday at Hayward Field. Thoughts, past and future.

Looking Back

Tyson Gay -- Here's what I love about Gay: He doesn't speak SportsCenter, only English. By that I mean when you ask him a question or present a situation to him, he responds to the substance of the actual question, rather than spitting back some collection of unsubstantial nonsense he once heard somebody say after hitting a home run.

Case in point: I spent some time with Gay last Sunday evening after he won the 100 meters in a famously windy 9.68, which came one day after his wind-legal American record of 9.77 on Saturday. On Saturday world-record holder Usain Bolt won the Jamaican Olympic Trials and I'm thinking this means Gay might be getting closer.

When I suggested this to Gay, he said to me. "Did you see the YouTube? He shut it down early. Real early.'' I went to the YouTube. Gay was right, Bolt shut it down at least 15 meters out. Maybe 20. The point here is that Gay responded honestly to a query. I suggested Bolt might be vulnerable. Gay said, maybe not.

I'm still thinking Bolt might be vulnerable over four rounds at the Olympics. This is not Gay's first rodeo on the big stage. It's going to be a serious footrace in China.

Eugene fans -- They cheer a sprint result and then look at the wind gauge. It's totally cool that Hayward Field -- think Fenway Park for track, only with a whole lot of swooshes everywhere -- is packed every day. It's even cooler than Hayward fans know what's going on. They cheer splits. These people bring their "A" game to a track meet.

More evidence: On Wednesday afternoon a long line of track fans lined up outside the Eugene Running Company to get an autograph from U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials winner Ryan Hall. I feel comfortable saying that there is not another city in the U.S. where this scene would have been repeated. (Sidelight: The store is owned by Bob Coll and his wife, Laura, runners whom I knew -- and covered -- when they were high school athletes in Burnt Hills and Latham, New York, respectively).

Fourth place -- It's no place to be. In the women's 100 meters last Saturday Marshavet Hooker was beaten by the remarkable Lauryn Williams for the third and final spot in the 100 meters by 1/1000 of a second. As best I can extrapolate this, that's a margin of less than one inch. One inch.

At least Hooker is a sprinter. She will probably get a spot on the 4X100-meter relay, either in the early rounds or in the final. The same cannot be said for 2004 Olympian Khadevis Robinson, who finished fourth in the 800 meters for the second time in his career (also in 2000). Robinson missed a spot because Christian Smith finished the Oregon Sweep by diving across the line and tearing up the left side of his body on the pebbled orange track. (Spread tiny rocks in your driveway and fall across them; that's what it feels like). The margin was .06 over two full laps. Brutal. "It's the worst feeling in the world,'' said Robinson.

Night lights -- There was much to like about Amy Yoder Begley's gutty run last Friday in the 10,000 meters on the first night of the meet. She knew she needed to finish in the top three and achieve the Olympic-qualifying standard of 31:45. She kept running past coach Alberto Salazar on the turn, banging her watch with her index finger lap after lap, begging to take the lead. Salazar, who had spent the previous day in the hospital (he underwent open heart surgery last summer), kept yelling, "Wait. Not yet.'' Finally Yoder was given permission to take the lead, hung on and made the team and the time.

Her story is epic (there are a lot of epic stories in the trials). Here is one of my favorite parts: Among her many injuries, in May of 2006 she stumbled in the dark in a hotel room somewhere in Tennessee (she can't remember if it was Nashville or Knoxville or somewhere else, but there was a track meet there). She banged her hip on the side of the tub, leading to bursitis, leading to several months off. "Now,'' she says, "I travel with two night lights. I'm not taking any chances.''

Monday night's men's 800 -- I've been trying to think for two days now if I've seen a more thrilling track race. Haven't been able to think of one yet. Maybe Carl Lewis' 4X100 anchor leg in Barcelona. Maybe Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat in Sydney in 2000. But Monday's 800 is on the short list.