BEIJING — Tyson Gay and his famous left hamstring held up fine through the first two rounds of the 100-meter dash Friday.

But he has some ground to make up if he is to reach the Olympic finals at National Stadium ("Bird's Nest") on Saturday.

Semifinals are set for 8:05 p.m. (a.m. EDT) Saturday, with finals at 10:30 p.m. (a.m. EDT).

Gay, out of Lafayette High School in Lexington, competed Friday for the first time since straining his left hammy at last month's U.S. Olympic Trials in Oregon.

First time out, Friday morning in Beijing, Gay won his heat in 10.22.

In Friday's quarterfinals, he ran faster (10.09), but finished second in his heat and tied for ninth overall.

"I felt good and relaxed," Gay said after his quarterfinal race. "I just wanted to make it through."

Conditions were crystal clear for the first time since the Games opened on Aug. 8.

Usain Bolt, the world record-holder from Jamaica, led the charge to the semifinals in 9.92 and looked very, very easy in doing so.

"I just ran the first 50 meters, then I looked around to make sure I was safe and shut it off," Bolt said.

And there were seven others who ran faster than Gay, including former world record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica and both of Gay's U.S. teammates: Darvis Patton and Walter Dix.

The reigning world champion in the 100 and 200, Gay was one of the favorites, if not the favorite, in the 100 until injuring his leg in the 200-meter quarterfinals in Oregon. Earlier that week, he ran an American-record 9.77 and, although wind-aided, the fastest all-conditions 100 of all time, 9.68.

Now, it's clearly Bolt and Powell in the role of favorites.

Bolt set his world record, 9.72, on May 31, beating Gay in the process.

Powell is a four-time world record-holder, including the mark of 9.74 that Bolt broke.

Gay said his hamstring "felt good" through two races.

Now the field gets tougher, though. Much tougher.

He will run the second of two semifinal heats, stuck on the outside in lane 8.

Working in from lane 7 to one, he'll be up against:

Portugal's Francis Obikwelu, the 2004 Olympic silver-medalist in the 100 and fifth-place finisher in the 200;

— Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson, who reached the Worlds quarterfinals last year and, Friday, ran 9.99 to win Gay's quarterfinal heat;

— Jamaica's Powell, who placed fifth in the 100 and eighth in the 200 at the Athens Olympics, with a bronze-medal 100 and silver-medal relay at last year's Worlds;

— Churandy Martina, fifth in both the 100 and 200 at last year's Worlds, and who set a Netherlands Antilles national record of 9.99 Friday;

— Patton, who won a relay silver at the Athens Olympics, golds at the last two Worlds, and clocked 10.04 Friday;

— And Japan's Naoki Tsukahara and France's Martial Mbandjock, both quarterfinalists at last year's Worlds.

If he makes it to the finals, then Bolt will no doubt be looming.

"Yes, I'm ready for my best," Bolt said. "I just came to run and do what I can do."

Two other Kentuckians competed Friday.

David Freeman, a personal trainer at the Lexington YMCA and a former University of Kentucky standout, finished 10th in his heat of the men's 1,500 meters. Louisville native Reese Hoffa finished seventh in the men's shot put.

Freeman, running for Puerto Rico, turned in his best time of the season, 3:39.70, but it wasn't enough to move on. Only the top five finishers in each of three heats automatically advance.

Juan Van Deventer of South Africa won Freeman's heat in 3:36.32.

Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi had the fastest time, 3:32.89.

"I can't be too mad because that's all I had today. So I'm just happy that I was in contention until the last little bit when they started pulling away. All in all, it was a good experience," Freeman said. "It was just (that) I gave them too much in the beginning in the sense that between the 800- and 1,200-meter mark, they had a little gap. With this caliber of guys, you can't really make up that gap in the last 300 meters. That's what I got myself into. But I'm still happy."

Freeman says he plans to remain in Lexington and hopes to run in the 2012 London Olympics.

Poland's Tomasz Majewski won the shot with a personal-best of 70 feet, 7 inches. Christian Cantwell of the U.S. popped 69-2 ½ on the last of his six attempts to win the silver, and Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus took his second consecutive Olympic bronze, reaching 69-0 ¾.

Hoffa, the world champion, has a best put of 67-4 ¼.

"Didn't execute," Hoffa said. "I didn't get it done when I needed to, I guess. ... I went out there in the third round, when I was in 10th place, and hit a throw that got me into the (eight-man) final. It may be a small, minor, minute victory, but at least I showed that when the pressure's on I can at least do something.

"I know that I was more than capable of hitting a throw to potentially win, but 'potentially' doesn't win championships. So you kind of have to do it."