Eric Cray. INQUIRER FIle Photo
RIO DE JANEIRO—Eric Shauwn Cray blew into town from El Paso, Texas, on Friday not in the least worried about how the jetlag might affect his preparations.
The 27-year-old Filipino-American hurdler said he only needs a massage following his 17-hour flight to this Olympic city.
“I feel great going to Rio and the trip was good,” Cray told the Inquirer in the Athletes Village. “Two hours from El Paso to Houston, then a five-hour layover plus a 10-hour flight to here. Too long, then I’ll be racing like 49 seconds, so…”
The Olongapo-born son of a Filipino mother and her US serviceman husband hopes to make a good showing so he could race in the finals.
And if his progressive improvement in the 400-meter hurdles over the past few months is any indication, Cray might yet eclipse his own national record of 48.98 seconds against all the world’s finest hurdlers.
He qualified for the Olympics as early as last year, when he beat the qualifying time with a PH record 49.12 during the Cayman Islands Invite.
Cray doesn’t get to compete in the heats of his event until the morning of Aug. 15, so he says he will have enough time to practice and take “selfies,” not with track stars like Usain Bolt, but with the NBA players on the US team.
“Right now I want to relax, walk around the village and try to see things,” he said. “It’s not going to be exciting seeing Bolt. I’ve seen him in a lot of meets.
“I feel real good,” said the 27-year-old who has a masters degree in Human Relations at University of Oklahoma. “It’s great that I’ll be racing in the morning (on Aug .15). I had been practicing in the morning.”