(CNN) -- There's a fine line between success and failure in top-level sports, perhaps nowhere more so than in track and field sprint events. Tyson Gay knows how true that is. The American was a triple world champion in 2007, but since then has seen Usain Bolt usurp him in the most spectacular way with records and titles galore. However, the difference between them is still only a few hundredths of a second. "It's a huge difference -- not on paper, but in the race it is. In a race, a loss is a loss and you can see it clearly. So that's why I want to get what's on paper a lot closer," Gay told CNN's Aiming for Gold show.
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U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay is hoping to prove a point at the 2012 London Olympics
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The 2007 triple world champion missed the Beijing 100 meter final after struggling with injury
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He is hoping to prevent Jamaica's world record-holder Usain Bolt defending his three titles
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Gay says he wants to be remembered as a clean runner, "someone who ran with his heart"
When they went head to head at the 2009 world championships, Gay clocked 9.71 -- good enough for second place only as the @placeholder took his title with a new record 9.58.