STAYING HUMBLE

"I believe if I have done it once, I can to do it again. I just have to stay humble, continue to work hard and don't overdo it."

For Gay to succeed in Beijing, he feels he has to banish memories of his three gold medals in Osaka.

"Those days are over with," he said. "I need to focus on the Olympics because I have never been to the Olympics before, I have never trained for the Olympics before. As long as I stick to the plan, everything will work out okay."

Gay has been sticking to the plan with former U.S. sprinter Jon Drummond, his advisor and mentor for the last two years.

However he was jolted a couple of weeks ago when Drummond said he needed to "step up" his work ethic.

Gay said: "He told me: 'I don't really see the hunger in your eyes like last year when you were studying more, you were learning more. Understand you don't have any Olympic medals, understand you haven't done greatness yet until you win the Olympics.'

"That kind of bothered me a little bit because I thought I was training hard. I kind of got offended."

A little bit of offence, coupled with his innate humility, could be the spur Gay needs to make Beijing success a reality.