The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Justin Gatlin

  • Gatlin tips Ujah to dominate 100 meters in future

    Gatlin tips Ujah to dominate 100 meters in future

     

    America’s Justin Gatlin has predicted that Nigeria born British athlete Chijindu Ujah will rule the 100 meters following the void that has been created at the top of the sport following the retirement of Usain Bolt.

    Gatlin believes CJ Ujah will emerge as a major player in the 100m at world and Olympic level after taking the 2017 Diamond League title.

    Gatlin said: ‘The thing with being a major medalist is you need two things – talent and confidence.

    ‘And Ujah has both. He has proven that in the last two years, especially in the last year.

    ‘There is no doubt now after the Diamond League season that he is one of the main guys.

    ‘This year he was always in the mix, always. If he lost, the margins were very small and that is Diamond League, against elite top competition.’

    The American continued: ‘If he wants to keep being successful he needs to stay hungry, he can’t settle for being Diamond League champion.

    He has to go after the big goal. For sure this guy is a gold medal contender. Look at Britain did in the 4x100m – they believed in themselves and beat us. They got the job done.

    ‘He will take that victory, look at that medal, and have something he can use to win a gold medal all by himself.

    Gatlin did not however stop at that as he equally predicted that Eight time Olympic Gold medalist Usain Bolt will make a

    U-turn in 2020 and return to the tracks.

    Bolt walked away from athletics after the London World Championships, where he could only finish third in the 100m, behind controversial gold medalist Gatlin.

    The 31-year-old is currently partying in Australia, but Gatlin believes the Jamaican legend will be drawn back to the sport after a year or two of unwinding.

    Gatlin told Sportsmail: ‘If he has a love for the sport then it will be hard for him to stay away. Put it this way, I think he loves track a lot.

    ‘He is a massive competitor, forget everything else. He loves being there on that line, against the other guy and going for the win.

    ‘When I think about it, I think he might take a run in 2020.’

    Gatlin, who has twice served drugs bans, remains a divisive figure in his sport, but at 35, is targeting the 2019 World

    Championships and that in turn will determine if he runs at the Tokyo Games.

  • Gatlin blames TV scheduling for Bolt injury

    Gatlin blames TV scheduling for Bolt injury

    Justin Gatlin agreed with the complaints of the Jamaican relay team that a long wait before their 4x100m final at the World Championships on Saturday contributed to the injury suffered by Usain Bolt in his last race.

    Bolt, having been passed the baton by Yohan Blake, was in third behind Great Britain and the United States, who eventually won gold and silver, but pulled up almost 50m from the line and fell to the track.

    Jamaica’s team doctor later said that the 30-year-old had suffered a hamstring cramp.

    Bolt’s teammates complained that a 45-minute wait in the call room before the race had hampered their preparations.

    “I think they were holding us too long in the call room,’’ Blake told reporters. “Usain was really cold. In fact Usain said to me ‘Yohan, I think this is crazy’. Forty minutes and two medal presentations before our run.’’

    Gatlin, who beat Bolt to gold in the 100m last Saturday, agreed with the complaints and laid the blame at the television scheduling for the event.

    “I know it’s TV magic, and everybody has to be prepared on time to make everything happen for the viewers at home.

    “(But) I personally think that we were held in the stadium a little too long without our clothes on, and there was a little draught in there. I lost all my sweat and body heat,’’ Gatlin said.

    When asked if he thought that contributed to Bolt’s injury, the 35-year-old said: “I believe so.

    “Knowing how Usain performs, he’s always ready, he’s always making sure he’s not injured and it’s very rare to see Usain injured when he comes to performances.’’

    Gatlin ran the second leg for the United States as they finished runners-up behind Britain, who became world champions for the first time.

    Amidst the home crowd’s jubilation, there was also relief at the sight of Bolt being able to walk off the track after being helped to his feet by his teammates.

    “I’m not sure what the extent of his injury is, but when I saw him go down I thought it was a calf cramp or a hamstring cramp. But he walked off the track, so that’s good thing.

    “I hope that he gets well soon,’’ Gatlin added.

  • Gatlin win ‘not the perfect script’, says IAAF President

    Gatlin win ‘not the perfect script’, says IAAF President

    Justin Gatlin’s win in the 100 metres at the World Athletics Championships was “not the perfect script”, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said on Sunday.

    American Gatlin, who has served two suspensions for doping offences, ruined Usain Bolt’s fairytale farewell on Saturday by beating the Jamaican sprint great in his final ever individual race.

    Bolt came third, behind 21-year-old American Christian Coleman, whose compatriot Gatlin was booed by the crowd for his win inside the London Stadium.

    “I’m not eulogistic that someone who has served two bans has walked off with one of our glittering prizes.

    “But he is eligible to be here,” Coe, the head of the sport’s governing body, told the BBC.

    “It’s not the perfect script. I thought Usain was very generous with the observations he made. That must have been a bitter event for him to swallow.

    “He was bigger than the moment and it typifies his career.”

    Coe reiterated his support for life bans for convicted drug cheats, but used Gatlin’s example to illustrate how legal systems worldwide have frustrated efforts to impose more severe punishments.

    Gatlin received a two-year ban in 2001 after failing a dope test for amphetamines found in prescribed medication he had been taking since a child for Attention Deficit Disorder.

    This suspension was later reduced to one year on appeal.

    The sprinter then tested positive for testosterone in 2006 and was suspended for eight years, avoiding a lifetime ban in exchange for his cooperation with the doping authorities.

    This ban, however, was also halved by an arbitration panel in 2007.

    “There have been two bans in the past,” Coe said. “One got watered down, which made it very difficult for the second ban.

    The second ban, we went for an eight-year ban, which would have, in essence, been a life ban. We lost that.”

    Efforts to impose lengthy suspensions on doping offenders have often been overturned in courts or by arbitration panels, with appeals sometimes citing inconsistencies with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code.

    WADA only updated its code from January 2015 to allow a four-year ban for first-time offenders, up from two years.

    Following Gatlin’s victory, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he wanted lifetime bans introduced to fully eradicate doping.

    “So would I (like to see lifetime bans) and so would the majority of our sport,” Coe said. “I’m not going to close the door on lifetime bans but we’ve constantly tried it and lost it.”

  • Usain Bolt departure great for rivals, bad for athletics

    Usain Bolt departure great for rivals, bad for athletics

    Usain Bolt’s rivals will, for once, be glad to see the back of a man who has dominated global sprinting for the last decade.

    But the sport of athletics will be far less enthusiastic about bidding a final farewell to the charismatic Jamaican.

    Bolt has completed the sprint double at the last three Olympics unchallenged.

    And had he not been disqualified ahead of the 100 meters final at Daegu in 2011, the 30-year-old could have matched that feat at the last four world championships.

    In an era blighted by doping scandals, the Jamaican has almost single-handedly kept the sport afloat but his commanding reign will come to an end when he retires after next month’s world championships.

    In the simple matter of who will take his place at the top of the 100 meters podium either at or after London.

    Be that as it may, Canada’s Olympic sprint medalist Andre de Grasse appears to be just ahead of the pack as the leading candidate.

    “De Grasse shows up when it counts. That’s the mark of a veteran.

    “Even though he has been in the sport not too long,” Justin Gatlin, Olympic gold medalist in 2004 and runner-up behind Bolt in Rio last year, told Reuters.

    South Africa also has a new generation of stars, led by Akani Simbine and Thando Roto.

    With their national championships taking place in March, peaking twice in one season could hinder their hopes of victory in London.

    “It’s difficult to be running fast in March and having to peak for your nationals and still find  a way to be ready at the middle of August,” former 200m world champion Ato Boldon told Reuters.

    The door could also open for the United States, a traditional sprint powerhouse, but largely forgotten as a threat for a decade since Gatlin and Tyson Gay tested positive for illegal drugs.

    However, Christian Coleman put himself on the map when he ran 9.82 seconds, the fastest time this year, during the U.S. collegiate championships while Trayvon Bromell won bronze at the world championships two years ago aged just 20.

  • World Championship: Bolt wins gold in 200m

    World Championship: Bolt wins gold in 200m

    Usain Bolt on Thursday defeated Justin Gatlin to win the 200m World Championship gold in Beijing.

    Bolt, often regarded as the world’s fastest person ever, is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time measurements became mandatory in 1977

    Bolt“It means a lot to me,” said Bolt, who did not even let being knocked over by a cameraman on a segway ruin his celebrations. “This is a big deal. I am happy to be a 10-time gold medallist. Especially this season when a lot of people have been doubting me, saying that I would lose.

    The Jamaican sprinter won the rematch and 200m gold at 19.55 seconds as he maneuvered  a wonderful bend to defeat his American rival, Gatlin, whose 19.74 was well outside his season’s best.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”category” link_target=”_blank” category=”5″ count=”8″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link” header_background=”#55ad35″]