Ex-Cougar Diana Pickler clinches Beijing trip

EUGENE, Ore. — After two days, setting or tying two personal records in six events, all Diana Pickler had to do to make the U.S. Olympic team late Saturday afternoon was run the 800 meters of her life.

Going into the final event of the heptathlon, she was in third place, the final Olympic qualifying spot. Behind her, in fourth, was Gigi Johnson, a very good 800 runner. Pickler had to stay within 1 ½ seconds of Johnson to go to Beijing.

One quick twitch between coming and going.

"I was pretty overwhelmed after the javelin," the sixth event, said Pickler, a former standout at Washington State who now is an assistant track coach there. "It hasn't been my forte to have to race someone in the 800 to beat somebody out. I knew I was capable of it, but it took a little bit for me to convince myself of it.

"I just kept my eyes on her [Johnson's] back the whole time, but I had to hold on."

The race became a two-person event.

With 200 meters to go, Pickler, running in second, pulled up on Johnson's shoulder. But as they ran around the final turn Johnson made one final push to separate from Pickler.

"I knew I couldn't let her break away for a second, or she would be gone," said Pickler, who trains with coach Rick Sloan at Washington State. "I just attempted to go with her every time she moved. I knew that if I couldn't do it here, I don't know when I could do it."

Johnson couldn't pull away.

"When they came off the turn, Gigi started to move again and opened up a little bit of a gap. That's when I winced just a bit," Sloan said. "I thought, 'You've got to go with her now.' She saw her moving and Diana told me after the race she remembered my voice in her head and said, 'I'm not going to let her get away.' But talk about a long hundred meters for a coach to watch."

Johnson won the race in 2 minutes, 15.88 seconds, but Pickler was a close enough second, at 2:16.59 to finish third overall and earn a trip to Beijing. After the race, she blew crazy kisses to the crowd.

"She's become a very tough competitor," said Sloan, who also coached Olympic decathlete Dan O'Brien. "She made the quantum leap in Texas last year when she scored 6,205, and from that point on I think she viewed herself differently and matured as an athlete and a competitor.

"She showed it today. Today was a bit of a struggle for her all the way through. But she kept battling through it and keeping herself above water and made the team."

Pickler, 24, did her best in the most important event of her life, finishing with a lifetime-best score of 6,257. The winner of the heptathlon, Hyleas Fountain, had a year's world-best score of 6,667, making her a real candidate for Olympic gold.

And second-place finisher Jacquelyn Johnson, a four-time NCAA champion, finished with 6,347 points.

Pickler's twin sister, Julie, dropped out after six events.

"It was extremely hard for me to watch my sister, Julie," Diana said. "This was our dream, and it was really hard watching her being so upset. But I had to kind of put the blinders on and focus on myself, which was really hard to do."

U.S. 100-meter mark set

Defending world champion Tyson Gay set an American record in the quarterfinals of the 100 meters, his 9.77 seconds tying the fourth-fastest time ever run. Torri Edwards followed suit with a scorching 10.78 seconds in the women's semifinals. Only seven women in history have run faster.

The U.S. contingent for the women's 100 was determined Saturday, and the biggest surprises might have been who did not make the team: Allyson Felix, whose specialty is the 200 but announced her intention to compete in four events in China, and Marshevet Hooker, who had the fastest time in each of the previous three rounds.

But Hooker was fourth and Felix was only fifth in the final. Instead, the three roster spots went to Muna Lee in 10.85, and Edwards and Lauryn Williams, two past world champions who both finished in 10.90.

Gay broke Maurice Greene's U.S. mark of 9.79. The finals are this afternoon. The performance had to be a boost of confidence for Gay, who was a distant second in New York on May 31, when Jamaica's Usain Bolt broke the world record by clocking 9.72.

Gay has had to answer plenty of questions about how much of a challenge he'll present at the Beijing Olympics to Bolt and another Jamaican, previous world record-holder Asafa Powell.

Olympic berths were settled in the men's shot put.

As expected, world champion Reese Hoffa, Christian Cantwell and two-time Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson led the way. Hoffa won with a top effort of 72 feet, 6 ¼ inches.

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