The last time Trayvon Bromell sprinted in an Olympic stadium, he was rolled off the track in a wheelchair. In the years between then and Sunday night, Bromell traveled through his sport’s wilderness and back. Doctors told him the damage done to his Achilles’ would prevent him from running again. He questioned his life’s worth. He found God. And now he could stake a claim as the fastest man in the world.
Bromell’s remarkable comeback reached a new apex Sunday night at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore. He beat one of the best 100 meters fields in the world in 9.80 seconds, sending him to the Tokyo Olympics as the unlikely favorite to win gold.
“Words still can’t put it into play what just happened,” Bromell said. “Like I’ve been telling people all this year: It’s God’s work.”
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Behind him were some of the best sprinters in the world, all of whom had stories of their own. Ronnie Baker, who had fought through his own injuries, finished second in 9.85 seconds. Fred Kerley, who took on the 100 and 200 just this season, made the team in third place in 9.86. Justin Gatlin, running through an injury he suffered in a semifinal, finished last, one spot behind Noah Lyles, who made his biggest statement before the race.
When the Hayward Field public address announcer called his name, Lyles raised his left fist, wrapped in a fingerless glove. He had done the same before races over the past year but never on a stage as large as this.
Lyles has been vocal about his desire to use his stature as an emerging superstar to draw attention to racial injustice in the United States. At a trials where the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has allowed political demonstrations, Lyles made clear competition will not slow his lean toward activism.
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“Black lives matter,” Lyles said afterward. “We’re still dying in the streets. Just because we stopped talking about it in the news and just because the Olympics are going on doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And I am Black. So to be honest, you could just hear a report about me tomorrow dying for no reason. I’m pretty sure some people would be sad, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be the only one. Probably another after that and another after that. This needs to stop.”
Lyles, the T.C. Williams High graduate and reigning 200-meter world champion, will have to wait to ensure he can take his voice to Tokyo. Lyles finished seventh in the 100 in 10.05 seconds.
Gatlin’s realistic bid to make a fourth Olympics at age 39 ended in misfortune after he tweaked his hamstring in his semifinal heat. “I had to patch it up and give the best performance I could give in the finals,” Gatlin said. He never had a chance. Gatlin finished last in 10.87, trotting gingerly over the line.
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Gatlin said he would speak with his inner circle, but he indicated he may not compete again, especially for the Olympics. In the likely event his Olympic career is over, the difficult task of defining his legacy can begin. Gatlin was banned from the 2008 Games for a positive drug test, for which he claims innocence, but he has also won a gold, silver and bronze in the 100.
As Gatlin sat down for a virtual news conference, he leaned forward, his breath halting and his eyes red.
“Sorry,” Gatlin said. “You got to give me a moment."
“Happy and sad at the same time,” Gatlin said, once he answered a question. “It’s a very rare opportunity that you are witnessing something you’re going to do for the last time while you’re doing it. And it made me sad. But it made me happy to be here, to be able to do it.”
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Minutes into answering questions, while speaking about motivating younger sprinters, Gatlin started crying, rose from his chair, flung down his headset and walked away for a moment. He returned.
“You never realize it’s going to be the end until the end comes,” Gatlin said.
Bromell endured a hellish recovery from his torn Achilles’ and nearly washed out of the sport, only to emerge this year as the fastest man in the world. Baker fought injuries as he tried to make previous teams and yet emerged this weekend saying of his goals: “I’ll be straight up: I want to be the fastest runner ever.” Kerley, the reigning national champion in the 400, dropped down to take on the 100 and 200, to much confusion among track aficionados. They are confused no longer after Kerley sprinted his way to Tokyo.
By making the team, all three men had met one of the most difficult challenges in their sport. In the past three Olympics, during the reign of Usain Bolt, the United States claimed two Olympic bronze medals and a silver. They could better that haul in Tokyo alone. When the gun went off Sunday night, the top six fastest men this year and eight of the top 11 were Americans.
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“If you look at the top times in the world,” Brommel said, “you see the United States’ flag across the line.”
Gatlin had predicted, “for a lot of athletes, it’s going to take a lifetime best” to make the team. That would have been the case for Lyles, whose personal best of 9.86 came in 2019. Lyles’s finish ended his bid to win three gold medals in Tokyo, but he had already amended his grand goal.
Lyles had made it his mission to win three golds this summer, holding tight to the notion until the eve of the trials. Perhaps recognizing the strength of the field and his own inability to make the fine leap from elite to world class, Lyles admitted he had started to focus on the 200 and no longer worried about the 100 — whatever happened, happened.
His result left him partially relieved but still disappointed. “I was definitely planning to get top three,” Lyles said.
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A member of the world champion 4x100 team at the 2019 world championship, Lyles will still be a favorite to win two golds in Tokyo.
Sunday night belonged to Bromell, who took a circuitous path to the top of the world. On Saturday, after his first-round heat, Bromell was asked how he made it back to the top of the sport. He pointed to the word printed on his hat: FAITH.
“I really want people to understand this: Doctors — people who went years learning about this stuff — told me I would not be able to run,” Bromell said. “All I had was my faith. All I had was my strength and perseverance.”
Bromell set the junior record in the 100 and dominated collegiately at Baylor. He entered 2016 intent on breaking out on the world stage, maybe even toppling Bolt at the Olympics. Early in the season, he sprained his Achilles’ tendon. He rested and managed the injury, still managing to make the Olympic final despite diminished form.
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The U.S. also chose him for the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay. Struggling to keep pace and trying to edge out the Japanese team, Bromell dove at the line and screamed in pain. He had to be carried off the track. He had torn the Achilles’.
Bromell spiraled through a difficult recovery. He competed once in 2017 and not at all in 2018. He found himself in the sport’s wilderness. His best time of 2019 was 10.54 seconds, which would not contend at prestigious high school meets.
“There was days when I got no phone calls, I did no interviews — nobody cared about Trayvon,” Bromell said. “The only person who cared about me was God, my family. It’s very hard for an athlete. You, the people, you, the media, put athletes on pedestals, and when we crash, we go rock bottom. I tell people I had a death wish. I didn’t know want to do, because it was a sport that I felt like saved my life.”
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Bromell’s recovery, both physically and mentally, provides him motivation. He believes his story, told from the Olympic stage, has the capacity to lift others at their own nadir.
“Everybody thinks I want to make the team because I want to medal,” Bromell said. “I want to make the team because I want to speak about faith. There’s a lot of people out here who are facing mental disorders and not understanding what to do, what next. I want to be an icon and a vessel, show the world you can keep fighting on, no matter if the world counts you out.”
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