published at canada.com

BEIJING – Want to meet one of Gordon Lightfoot’s Rainy Day People?
Look no further than Gary Reed. Most runners wouldn’t exactly cherish the thought of having to run their Olympic 800-metre track semifinal in a downpour. No problem said a drenched Reed, who qualified for the 2008 Summer Games final to be held Saturday at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

"It was just like being at home and running in the rain in Victoria," said Reed.
"I train and run in this stuff all year long."

Reed slipped through the rain drops to finish second in his race – one of three semifinals held Thursday – to qualify for the Olympic final by only 2/100ths of a second.

The top two from each of the semis, along with the runners with the two remaining fastest times, make up the eight-man final.

Nabil Madi of Algeria was across first in the third semifinal in one minute, 45.63 seconds. Reed, raised in Kamloops, held off a desperate late surge by Boaz-Kiplagat Lalang of Kenya to grab the second automatic qualifying berth out of that semifinal.

Reed clocked 1:45.85 to Lalang’s 1:45.87.

It is by such minute margins that Olympic dreams are made or broken.

Reed got through to the final. Lalang did not.

"This is the deepest event in the Olympic Games," said Reed, of the stiff competition.

"The Olympic final is going to be a dog fight."

Reed, the 2007 world track and field championships silver medallist, came into the 2008 Summer Games as one of Canada’s best hopes for a track and field medal. Yet he knows his preliminary race Wednesday was tactically shaky and that he had no margin to spare in his semifinal. But it’s all about attrition and survival – and survive is what he has done. It means racing the final.

"It’s all about the final now and nothing else matters," said Reed, a lithe and graceful runner.
"What’s done is done and all behind me. I’m in [the final]. I’ve got a spot."

Which means he’s got a shot.

As they say, you don’t stand a chance in any lottery unless you hold a ticket. Reed has his and it grants him admission for a chance at entrance on to the Olympic podium Saturday.

Reed will be up against Madi, Wilfred Bungei of Kenya, Yusuf Saad Kamel of Brunei, Yeimer Lopez of Cuba, Ismail Ahmed Ismail of Sudan, Nadjim Manseur of Algeria and Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya, the latter who pipped Reed at the wire last year to win gold at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan.

Reed’s silver medal at the worlds was Canada’s greatest achievement in the men’s 800 metres since Bill Crothers’ silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

On Saturday, Reed will look to top even that.