BY MIKE MARZOLF

Special to the Tribune

Tyson Gay will be on his way to his third Olympics Games. He was named to the United States relay pool following a fifth place effort in the 100m and a sixth place finish in the 200m at the US Olympic Trials this past week in Eugene, Ore.

Gay will be part of the 4x100m relay pool which consists of six runners. Gay will be 34 when he puts on his spikes in Rio de Janeiro. 

He is a silver medal winner in the 4x100m relay from the 2012 games in London. 

Joining Gay will be Akeem Haynes after his third place finish in the 100m at the Canadian Championships to earn spot on the national team.

It will be the second Olympic Games for Haynes who will run in the 100m as well as be on the 4x100m relay team for Canada.

Haynes finished third with a time of 10.21 to earn his spot at the Olympics. It will be the first time the 23-year old gets to run in an individual race. He was part of the 2012 relay team for Canada.

While his 10.21 was not under the 10.16 Olympic standard his time of 10.15 ran last year in Edmonton and the 10.16 run in a prelim race at the Canada Championships this year in Edmonton hit that standard.

Andre De Grasse won the Canada 100m championship with a 9.99 while Andre Brown finished second in 10.07. De Grasse and Brown have both run sub-10.0 this year – the first two Canadians to do so in 17 years.

That brings the total to seven the number of former Cougars who will compete in the track and field portion of the Rio Olympics. 

Joining Gay and Haynes on the men’s side of the competition will be Leevan Sands in the triple for the Bahamas and Alonso Edward in the 200m for Panama.

Three former Cougar women will all compete in the 200m. Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown and Simone Facey as well as Laverne Jones-Ferrette for the Virgin Islands.

The 2016 Rio Olympics will take place Aug. 5-21.