When Justin Gatlin appeared at the Valley River Inn a day before competing in the 200 meters at the Prefontaine Classic, his buzzed hair was scattered with gray. It seemed like an indicator of the long road he has taken to restore his image.
Gatlin, 33, is competing this weekend with some heavy baggage. From 2006-2010, he served a four-year ban from track and field for testing positive for a banned substance. Along with it, his then world-record-time of 9.77 in the 100 meters was erased.
This year, the stream of negative press about Gatlin continued.
Earlier this month, the silver medal he earned as part of the 4×100 relay team at the 2012 London Olympic Games was stripped and he did not compete in the Beijing World Challenge after what he said, “was a misunderstanding.” In addition, after the United States claimed gold at the IAAF World Relays Championships in the Bahamas, Gatlin’s teammate Ryan Bailey mocked Usain Bolt’s famous lightning bolt pose with an additional throat slash.
All the while, his fast pace – he ran 9.74 in the 100 meters in Doha, Qatar, on May 15, a time only four sprinters have eclipsed – has come with a myriad of questions about his history.
But, as Gatlin tells his teammates, he has plenty left.
“As he would say, he ages like wine,” said his teammate Isiah Young. “The older he gets, the better he starts running.”
On Saturday, Gatlin will compete in the 200 meters, an event his college coach Vince Anderson always said was his best race. But Gatlin did not begin to embrace it until last year after he posted a 19.68 in Monaco – an event he said he ran scared. In Brussels that same year, Gatlin ran a 19.71 and began to realize what he was capable of.
Now, he wants to run both the 100 and 200 meters at the World Championships in Beijing this year, and he is firm when talking about how he’s still able to compete at this level.
“Because I have training partners like Isiah Young that come and train with me, I run very hard,” Gatlin said. “I know I’m towards the end of my career, so I want to give it my all.”
Young sees it firsthand.
“I’ve seen him die, get hurt – we battle every day,” Young said. “I mean, and then he got in trouble for that so many years ago and still to bring it up now, I don’t understand.”
But Gatlin likes the critics.
“Critics help you with what your gauge is in life,” said Gatlin, adding that social media can be over the top.
Gatlin plans to give back the silver medal he earned in London and put it behind him. He’s excited about the rivalry he’s built with Bolt as well as the one the U.S. 4×100 relay team has built with Jamaica. He’s also excited about where he’s at with the 200 meters.
“I think the depth that I can bring to the 200 I haven’t reached that,” he said.
He’s moving forward, has “squashed” what happened in Beijing and is ready to go 1-2 with Thomas on Saturday.
“Hopefully I can duplicate a performance I did in Monaco and put a show on for the fans,” Gatlin said.
