By Charean Williams

McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING — Tyson Gay couldn’t wait to tell his mom.

“Kobe’s praying for my leg,” he wrote in a text message to Daisy Gay Lowe the other day.

Everyone is worried about Gay’s leg, even Kobe Bryant.

“He asked me, ’How is your leg doing? I’m going to check you out and I’m going to keep you in my heart and hope everything comes along well,”’ Gay said in a press conference Monday. “... It was just amazing. It really meant something to me because he’s a huge superstar.”

Gay, who trains at Texas-Arlington under Jon Drummond, hadn’t been seen or heard from much since he fell on the track during the quarterfinals for the 200 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials on July 5. Gay worked out at Beijing Normal University on Sunday and deemed himself “100 percent” and “fully recovered” Monday.

But the truth is: No one, including Gay, can be 100 percent certain that he is fully recovered until he races for the first time Friday. (The semifinals and finals are Saturday.)

Gay has not run since he strained his left hamstring, pulling out of a scheduled appearance in a London meet July 25. Furthermore, German orthopedist Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfarth, who spent a month working with Gay in Munich, determined that the injury was more serious than originally diagnosed.

Gay, who won the 100 and 200 at the world championships last year, will have to be 100 percent to take the gold medal. Jamaica’s Asafa Powell broke the world record (9.74) last year before his fellow countryman, Usain Bolt, ran a 9.72 earlier this year.

Gay, who ran an American-record 9.77 in the quarters of the 100 at the Trials and then a wind-aided 9.63 in the finals, no longer is the favorite. Or even a favorite.

Gay is the underdog, an unfamiliar role for him.

“A guy from Jamaica came up to me in the (Athletes’ Village) cafeteria yesterday and mentioned, ’I hope you don’t break up our sweep. You know, 1-2,”’ Gay said. “We laughed about it and joked around, but I’m pretty sure that’s a real thing. I mean, Asafa Powell has been around for a long time. He’s been a world-record holder and that means a lot to him. Usain Bolt is the world-record holder now, and he’ll try to hold onto that.”

Gay wants to run a 9.6-something, plans to run a 9.6-something and figures he’ll have to run a 9.6-something to win the gold medal. Will his hamstring hold up?

That’s the question everyone wants answered, even Gay.