ATHLETICS WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:IT WAS not just the gold medal that left Justin Gatlin feeling redeemed at the world indoor track and field championships in Istanbul on Saturday night. It was the time.
Since returning 19 months ago from a four-year doping ban, Gatlin said he had been chasing the sprinter he used to be. And what he saw on the clock as he crossed the finish line after 60 metres of wide-eyed effort was 6.46 seconds: the same time he recorded in winning the 60-metre world indoor title in 2003.
“I think it shows my God-given talent,” Gatlin said between tears and victory poses with an American flag. “As a rookie, I came out and ran 6.46, and I came back as a 30-year-old man and ran 6.46.”
This time, Gatlin came from behind in the final 20 metres to beat Nesta Carter of Jamaica, who finished second in 6.54, and Dwain Chambers, the defending world champion from Britain, who was third in 6.60.
“It feels like a rebirth,” Gatlin said. “And everything I have now I’m going to give to my son, because he’s the reason why I’m out here and still running, because I want him to know that having the Gatlin name is pride.”
American celebrations were the rule on the second night of these championships at the new Atakoy Arena. Three of Gatlin’s teammates also won gold medals: Chaunte Lowein the women’s high jump, Sanya Richards-Ross in the women’s 400 and, most emphatically, Ashton Eaton in the men’s heptathlon.
Eaton (24) set the world record in this seven-event competition when he was a senior at Oregon in 2010.
He broke it again last year in Tallin, Estonia, and crushed it here: raising his total to 6,645 points from 6,568. The highlight came on Friday in the long jump, where his leap of a little more than 26 feet 9¼ inches was the longest ever in a multi-event competition.
The decathlon remains Eaton’s primary concern. He took the silver medal at last year’s world outdoor championships in Daegu, South Korea, behind his American team-mate Trey Hardee.
Now, they and another American, Bryan Clay, are training to win at the Olympics in London.
Gatlin has been part of an American Olympic sweep: taking bronze in the 200 at the 2004 Games in Athens, where he also won the 100.
Gatlin then won the 100 and 200 at the 2005 world championships, but his dominance ended abruptly after he tested positive for a banned substance.
Chambers was barred for two years in 2003 after testing positive for steroid use. And while Gatlin is eligible to compete in London, British Olympic Association rules bar any British athlete from the Olympics after being suspended for a major doping offence. But a challenge to that rule will be heard today by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I’m just going to keep training because that’s all I know to do,” Chambers said. “I can’t do anything else. I can’t try and be a lawyer. I’m not qualified.” Gatlin said he hoped Chambers would make it to London. “Having him on the line would be a great show,” he said.
For the moment, sprinting remains Usain Bolt’s show, and it would be folly to read too much into Saturday’s race, in which neither Bolt nor his training partner Yohan Blake competed. Bolt has redefined speed in Gatlin’s absence, dropping the 100-metre world record to 9.58 seconds and the 200 record to 19.19.
Gatlin’s best official times remain 9.85 and 20 flat, both run before his ban, and he failed to reach the final in the 100 at last year’s world championships. But Gatlin said his throwback performance Saturday gave him optimism. “I watch a lot of charts and I think I’m the only guy out there, especially an American, who has the stride pattern to match up to Bolt and have the top-end frequency and speed to go out there and battle that,” Gatlin said.
New York Times
