Shawn Crawford about to run 200 meter final

Shawn Crawford -- the sprinter from Van Wyck, S.C., Indian Land High and Clemson -- will run in the 200 meter final in just a couple of hours. It's night time here in Beijing, where I'm sitting at the Bird's Nest track and field complex, and Crawford is in one of Wednesday night's marquee events.

The overwhelming favorite in the eight-man final is Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who became the world record-holder at 9.69 seconds earlier in the Olympics despite slowing up at the end. He will run out of Lane 5. Crawford will be right next to him, in Lane 4. Two other Americans are also in the final -- Walter Dix of Florida State and Wallace Spearmon.

Bolt's career best in the event is 19.67. The world record? Michael Johnson's 19.32. I was there in 1996 the night he set that mark in Atlanta -- one of my favorite memories of those Olympics. Crawford says of Bolt: "He's beatable."

Soon, we'll see.