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EUGENE, Ore. | There was far more chatter about other sprinters coming into the U.S. Olympic track and field trials. But only one American woman made it to the Beijing Games in the revered sprint double: Kansas City’s Muna Lee.
Lee finished second to Allyson Felix in the 200 meters Sunday, the final day of the trials at Hayward Field. Felix’s time was 21.82 seconds, and Lee’s was 21.99.
Lee was the champion in the 100 here on June 28, and so she seems very likely to be on the U.S. 400 relay team in Beijing, too. And to think that a month ago, Lee was still nursing a sore hamstring. Now, she’ll be in at least two and probably three events in the Summer Games.
“It’s a big step,” said Lee, a graduate of Central High and LSU. “I knew I could make it in the 200, but the 100 was a shocker. So it gave me even more confidence (for the 200), because I knew I could get out with the best in the first 100.
“It means a lot. I had a rough year, and my comeback was really good. I’m just really happy.
Vince Anderson, Texas A&M’s assistant track coach who trains Lee, summed up her monumental accomplishment here in Oregon.
“This was the best track meet of her life,” Anderson said. “I told her, ‘You’ve run that many races before, but never at this high level consistently for 10 days. You didn’t have one bad race.’ ”
Lee started this meet June 27, when she competed in the preliminaries and quarterfinals of the 100 meters. The next day, she raced in the semis and then won the final. On Friday, she began competition in the 200 with the prelims. The quarters and semis were Saturday. And Sunday, she ran a very strong final.
One American man, Florida State’s Walter Dix, will do the 100-200 double in Beijing; he won the 200 in 19.86 seconds Sunday, edging 2004 Olympic champ Shawn Crawford in a photo finish. Dix was second a week ago in the 100 final.
The difficulty of what Lee and Dix did — making it through eight races here to grab a top-three spot at both distances — is no better illustrated than by what happened to men’s 100 champion Tyson Gay.
He cramped up and suffered a muscle strain in the 200 quarterfinals Saturday and couldn’t finish the race. Even though Gay is the reigning world champion in the 100 and 200, he won’t compete in the latter event in Beijing.
It’s all about how you do at the trials. And Lee couldn’t have done much better.
“The rounds really got to me, but I prepared myself for it,” she said. “And my coaches were like, ‘You can do it.’ So I just listened to that.”
Anderson said, “She has been preparing for it all her life, not just this year. All those rounds she ran at the NCAA meets and USA championships — all of that comes into play here.”
Texas graduate Marshevet Hooker, who fell forward at the finish line in the women’s final, edged Lauryn Williams for the last spot on the Olympic 200 team by one-hundredth of a second, 22.20 to 22.21.
That was a reversal of what happened in the 100; when Williams beat Hooker for the third spot by three-hundreds of a second.
“I’m really proud of everybody in the field,” Hooker said after the 200, “because everybody brought it.”
Felix and Lee, though, brought it the most Sunday. They also finished 1-2 in the 200 final at the 2004 Olympic trials. Then, Lee was in lane one, which of course has the hardest curve, and Felix was in lane six. This time, Felix was in lane five and Lee in lane six, and they separated from the pack at the end.
“It was better this time, it wasn’t like last time when I was more scared,” Lee said of that 200 final four years ago in Sacramento, Calif. “Then, I was way on the inside. This time, I actually got to see what it’s like to run right next to (Felix) and hold, for the most part.”
Lee might have come into these trials without much fanfare, but she goes to Beijing with a higher profile.
“My coaches didn’t want me to be overlooked, but it was also something they didn’t want me to worry about,” she said. “I like being the underdog for the most part. I guess maybe I won’t be that anymore now.”
Lee made the 200 final in Athens four years ago, placing seventh. As for her hopes for Beijing, she broke into a grin.
“I just want to medal,” Lee said. “I’m just trying to bring back the hardware, like they say.”
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