TRACK AND FIELD: GAY MAKES ANOTHER STATEMENT TAKES 200 TO ADD TO HIS 100 TITLE.

Byline: KIRBY LEE

Special to the Daily News

OSAKA, Japan -- Tyson Gay added the title of the fastest 200-meter runner in World Championship history to complete a 100- and 200-meter double in the IAAF World Championships at Nagai Stadium  on Thursday night.

Gay clocked a meet-record 19.76 in the 200 to dip under Michael Johnson's meet record of 19.79 set in 1995 to lead a 1-3 United States finish with training partner Wallace Spearmon. Gay joined Americans Maurice Greene (1999) and Justin Gatlin (2005) as the only sprinters to win both the 100 and 200 at the championships.

Gay, 25, will try for a third gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay on Saturday. Unlike his 100-meter victory on Sunday, when Gay pumped both fists in celebration after crossing the finish line, Gay had a look of relief more than joy after his 200 win -- his eighth race in six days.

He crouched on the ground looking at a replay on the video board before getting up, pointing his finger skyward and giving Spearmon a hug. Then he slowly walked around the track with an American flag on his victory lap.

"It meant a lot to me in my heart, but my legs were extremely tired and I couldn't really jump up and down and show a lot of emotion," said Gay, who placed fourth in the 200 in the 2005 World Championships. "This was the hardest race of my life because I had never won a 200 in a major stage."

Gay ran 19.62 for the No. 2 mark of all-time record in the USA Track & Field Championships in June, but found himself in the unfamiliar position of trailing Usain Bolt of Jamaica off the curve in Thursday's final.

Gay, running in the fourth lane, regrouped and pulled even with Bolt in the fifth lane and powered down the homestretch for the win. Bolt, the world junior record- holder, was second in 19.91.

Spearmon held off U.S. teammate Rodney Martin for third, 20.05 to 20.06.

"I couldn't do anything but go to my strength and technique that I had all year long," Gay said. "I had a lot of things going through my mind in that race. I didn't know if (Bolt) was going to come back and catch me or (Spearmon) was going to come up."

The medals won by Gay and Spearmon and women's 100-meter winner Veronica Campbell of Jamaica brought the total to four by athletes coached by Lance Brauman. Brauman is serving a 1-year sentence after being found guilty of five counts related to paying athletes for work not performed when he was the track coach at Barton County (Kan.) Community College, where several coaches and administrators took plea arrangements for similar charges.

Before beginning his sentence in November, Brauman provided his athletes with notebooks detailing their workouts throughout the season.

Before Thursday's 200 final, Gay and Spearmon huddled in a prayer circle with the other eight finalists before the runners were called onto the track.

Tonight's women's 200-meter final will feature four Americans in the final, with defending champion Allyson Felix of Santa Clarita and USC graduate Torri Edwards along with Sanya Richards and La'Shaunte'a Moore. Felix won her 200 semifinal in 22.21 ahead of Campbell (22.44) and Edwards, who was third in a season-best 22.51.

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Photo:

Tyson Gay of the U.S. wins the men's 200-meter final Thursday at the World Championships.

Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press