Jamaican preps Cray for Rio
If Jamaica is known for producing track stars like Usain Bolt, maybe the magic will rub off on Fil-Am Eric Cray who’s competing in the 400-meter hurdles at the Rio Olympics on Aug. 15. Cray’s coach is Jamaican Davian Clarke who bagged a bronze medal in the 4x400 meter relay at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Clarke, 40, took over as Cray’s coach from American Keith Sharper before the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last year and will be in the 60,000-seat Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange when the Olongapo-born bet makes his Olympic debut.
It was Clarke who reported to PATAFA president Philip Juico that Cray ran a personal best of 48.98 seconds – a new Philippine record – to take runner-up honors at the Madrid World Challenge last June 24. Five days later, he clocked 49.67 to top a competition in Sweden.
Clarke said Cray’s final run before flying to Rio was at the American Track League in Houston last July 23. He finished in 50.11. While the time was far from Cray’s best, Clarke said it wasn’t unexpected. “We’ve been doing different training to make sure he’s fully rested and ready for Rio,” Clarke told Juico in a text. “We will get back to more speed type runs in preparation for the Olympics. The body has to rest so it’s hard to run fast for two months straight.”
Clarke said Cray wound up his training in Texas on a high note. “He’s in great shape and did well in the last week of July,” added Clarke. “Times are much faster in training so it looks well. The US team is also training in Texas, outside of Houston.”
Cray, 27, ran 49.4 seconds – the Rio qualifying mark – to capture the gold at the SEA Games last year. It reset the SEA Games record which was 49.76 registered by Thailand’s Chanon Keanchan in 1995. Second place was Vietnam’s Cong Lich Quach who clocked 50.29.
In Rio, there will be 42 participants in Cray’s event, including three invitation and one universality placers. Puerto Rico’s Felix Sanchez, who took the gold at the 2012 Olympics with a time of 47.63, won’t be around to defend his title. But London’s runner-up Michael Tinsley of the US and bronze medalist Javier Cuison of Puerto Rico are in the field. Tinsley clocked 47.91 for the silver and Cuison, 48.1 for third.
Sharper, the sprint and hurdles coach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D. C., was with Cray at the 2013 SEA Games and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. Cray won the gold in 2013 and became the first Filipino to reach the final at the Asian Games since 1982. Clarke coached Cray when he took the gold in the 100-meter run and 400-meter hurdles at the SEA Games last year.
Athletics has the most Philippine participants in Rio with Cray, marathoner Mary Joy Tabal and long jumper Marestella Torres. The three athletes qualified for Rio without the benefit of an invitation or universality ticket. It was the first Olympics where athletics had more than two athletes since 1992.
Tabal will be the first of the three athletes to compete in women’s marathon on Aug. 14.
Cray will participate in the heats the next day and if he makes it to the final, will return to the track on Aug. 18.