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Tyson Gay was just a teenager in Lexington, Ky., when Lance Brauman first met him.

The connection was instantaneous.

Brauman, a former Auburn athlete who earned two degrees on the Plains, saw the potential for greatness and asked Gay to get serious about track by following him to Barton County (Kan.) Community College. Eleven years later, the two men still are collaborating - and poised to make noise at the London Olympics.

Gay is expected to be in contention for a medal in both the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay.

``He believed in me. He went to Barton to be with me and we've been working together ever since," Brauman said in a recent interview from London. "He was very talented even in the beginning, but he kept getting better. He's become exactly what I thought he could be. It's been great to watch it all unfold."

Brauman's rise to relevance didn't happen overnight. After finishing work on a graduate degree in 1995, he took an assistant's job at Barton after receiving a recommendation from Auburn assistant Dennis Shaver.

Shaver now is the head coach at LSU.

Brauman eventually became head coach at Barton and parlayed success at that level into a gig at University of Arkansas. The Razorbacks won a national championship in 2005 - with Gay, who transferred to Fayetteville along with Brauman, winning the 100.

Gay became an international phenom when he posted a 9.68 time at the 2008 Olympic trials. It was the fastest 100-meter figure ever recorded at the time.

Still, a hamstring injury slowed Gay during the Beijing Olympics and he failed to medal. Another of Brauman's pupils, Veronica Campbell, won two gold medals in Athens and another in Beijing.

Brauman is hoping to keep his gold streak alive during the next week. In addition to Gay, Brauman has seven other athletes competing in various events. That group includes 100-meter specialists Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Keston Bledman from Trinidad.

"Being part of the Olympics is something that never gets old," he said. "It's the best of the best - for athletes and coaches and everyone involved. It's why you train. You put in the work for those moments."

Brauman trains his athletes from November through the summer at his facility outside of Orlando. Once the track season ends, his favorite activity involves Saturday afternoons inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Brauman is a season-ticket holder and plots to make one road game per year. He attended his first Auburn game as a freshman in 1990. His enthusiasm never waned.

"Watching Auburn play football is my favorite thing to do with my downtime," Brauman said. "My time at Auburn was great and I love going back every chance I get. That's a big part of who I am."

Preliminaries for the 100 begin Saturday with relays following on Aug. 9.