EUGENE, Ore. — This drama doesn't need to be put into perspective by some ungodly number on a stopwatch.

The moment doesn't have to be brought to life with some glossy, slow-motion replay or accompanied by some too-fitting music as part of a too-perfect personality piece.

This Olympic story is about as genuine, unexpected and uncontrived as they come: A hometown kid given little chance in a race that's given little attention dives across the finish line to beat a four-time national champion and earn the last spot in the Olympics.

The race was the 800 meters. His name is Christian Smith. Four days later, he is still the talk of Eugene — "Track Town, USA" — and his triumph is, as they say, the reason they play the game.

"I would say perseverance," Smith said when asked to describe the lesson to be learned from his unexpected third-place finish Monday. "It's essentially hammering away at it and keeping the focus and having my goals. Nobody expected me to be an Olympian."

It would be hard to blame them. Smith originally was listed as the 31st qualifier in an event that only had room for 30. He was planning to petition for his spot, but when a couple of runners dropped out, he got to start.

In breaking down the race, the Web site letsrun.com called Smith "least likely to make it."

It was hard to argue with that. Smith basically lost his entire 2007 season when his appendix ruptured, an infection set in and he sat hunched over in his house, with an abscess the size of a cantaloupe in his abdomen.

The 24-year-old from Garfield, Kan., had moved to Eugene to train, but the illness, combined with a new training method, wasn't working out.

"If you miss a year and come back, it's going to take time," said coach Frank Gagliano of Smith's new training group, the Oregon Track Club. "And it took time. But the big stage brought out what Christian is made of."

What Smith knew that many didn't is that he had recently brought his former coach from Kansas State to Oregon to help him train, and gone back on a regimen he was more comfortable with.

He had the fourth-best personal record of anyone in the field, though he reached it long ago, before he got sick.

"I was searching for some mark in training to justify where I was," Smith said.

Then this spring, some of his workout times started really kicking in.

Which led to Monday.

The drama ended in a melee at the finish: Smith getting hooked by favorite Khadevis Robinson in the final 10 meters, then Smith vaulting himself into mid-air as he approaches the line, sprawled out to defeat Robinson, who had won the national title four times before this year.

Diving at the finish line is not part of anybody's training program.

"I did have it in my mind, the last 10 meters, that I had to dive," Smith said. "As I'm coming up to the line, I just leaned and pushed and tried to get my shoulder to the line."

He and Robinson were both laying on the track at the end, while winner Nick Symmonds and second-place finisher Andrew Wheating were starting their celebration.

I didn't know," Smith said. "I'm laying there. I didn't move. I didn't even want to look at the scoreboard. I was relaxed. There was nothing more I could do. I didn't want the disappointment of not making it. I didn't want to know at first."

Soon enough, he did.

Three runners, all with Oregon ties, would be representing the United States at the Olympics.

Tyson Gay and his wind-aided 9.68 in the 100 be damned, the reaction to the 800 remains the biggest roar heard all week inside of Hayward Stadium where the patrons do, in fact, really know their track. The fans stayed on their feet, applauding and cheering, long after the race ended as Smith, Symmonds and Wheating took their victory trot.

Four days later, Smith is still busy returning phone calls.

He said his scraped shoulder is healing slowly, his arm and hand are "pretty good," and the worst thing is that his ribs have been sore.

"Not really sure what happened there," he said.

But this is the kind of pain he'll deal with gladly.

"When I think about actually going to Beijing and going to opening ceremonies and getting to race in Olympics, I mean, I knew it was a possibility and it could happen," he said. "But to actually have it be over and to be in this position. It's still pretty crazy and exciting."