'It’s not easy:' U.S. men's track and field team still in search of first gold medal at Olympics

TOKYO – Earning an Olympic medal is extremely hard. Winning an Olympic gold medal is extraordinarily difficult, especially in individual sports such as track and field. The gold-medal winner truly has to be the best in the world. To put things in perspective, the world population is approaching 7.9 billion, according to Worldometer.

What’s transpired on the track and field for the U.S. men’s team encapsulates just that.

“It’s really hard. All the training, all the lifting, all the running and all the miles we put on our bodies,” Kenny Bednarek said moments after earning a men’s 200-meter silver medal. “It’s just a lot of hard, hard work. It’s not easy. You got to make sure to drink water, rehydrate every day, make sure to stretch every day and use all the equipment that you have…It’s not easy, but you can do it if you put in the hard work.”

Unfortunately for the U.S. men’s team none of them have been able to achieve their ultimately golden dreams.

Following six days of competition, the U.S. men’s squad has five overall medals – four silvers and one bronze. Zero gold medals. The U.S. track and field men are still leading all participating countries in the overall medal count with five. However, at the closing of Olympic track and field day six, 10 countries have at least one track and field gold medal, including Sweden and Italy leading the way with two apiece.

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At the 2012 London Olympics, it took six days of track and field competition until U.S. hurdler Aries Merritt won the first track and field gold medal for the men. Recording all the way back to the 1988 Olympics, the U.S. men have never gone through the first seven days without a single gold medal.

“I think everybody is just bringing their A game,” Clayton Murphy said after finishing ninth in the men’s 800-meter final. “It’s not easy, it’s never been easy. We just kind of been on top.”

While the U.S. women have 10 overall medals, including three gold, the men are still searching for their very first one.

American sprinter Trayvon Bromell came into the Tokyo Games with the No. 1 time in the 100 meters this year, but didn’t get passed the semifinal round. Rai Benjamin was a gold-medal hopeful in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. However, he was outdueled in the event by Norway’s Karsten Warholm in a thrilling race in which both men actually eclipsed the world record. Another example on how challenging it is to be a gold medalist.

U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles was another frontrunner to win the gold in the 200 meters, but he placed in third behind his U.S. teammate Bednarek and gold medalist Andre De Grasse, who attended USC, of Canada.

Lyles was appreciative that he won a bronze medal but the 2019 world champion in the 200 meters even called bronze “boring.”

“Everybody wants to win when they come to the Olympics. The bronze is not what I wanted, but at the same time it’s a great achievement of course,” Lyles said. “It’s nice to have but I want more.”

The positive news for the U.S. men’s team is its gold-medal drought shouldn’t linger too much longer. U.S. shot putter, world-record holder and reigning Olympic champion Ryan Crouser is the clear-cut favorite in the men’s shot put final on Thursday. On the track on Thursday, Grant Holloway is going into the 110-meter hurdles final No. 1 in the world and in better form than any of his competitors. There could be two gold medals forthcoming, and possibly more, in the matter of hours. But that doesn’t take away from the incredible challenge it is to be the best in the world at an individual event.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tokyo Olympics: U.S. men's track and field team without a gold medal