adminJUSTIN GATLIN is far more interested in winning races than popularity contests.
Still, the American sprinter with a doping history does not quite understand the backlash over his nomination for track and field athlete of the year. Gatlin went undefeated in the 100m and 200m this season, a year that did not include a major meet and one in which Usain Bolt chose to give his nagging injuries time to heal.
But Gatlin’s inclusion for the annual award has angered some athletes. So much so that the Olympic discus champion Robert Harting even withdrew from consideration.
Gatlin insisted that he has served his time – four years for testing positive for excessive testosterone in 2006 – and should be at least considered.
His reaction to those showing so much displeasure is this: Why over an award? Why not after he captured a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics or silver at the 2013 world championships?
“Not a peep, then. Not a stir,” Gatlin said. “I don’t make any waves. I don’t say anything bad about anybody. I don’t point fingers. I’m sad to say that a lot of people out there feel that ‘once a doper, always a doper’. But that makes no sense. That means you don’t believe your system is working.”
The 32-year-old sprinter said he is been tested often by the US Anti-Doping Agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IAAF, the governing body of track.
Scepticism remains, though, as when he finished in 9.77sec in Brussels last month, it was a mark achieved only by the world record holder, Bolt, Tyson Gay, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell. It is also the time Gatlin was running in 2006, when he tested positive. — The Guardian
Online Reporter