WHY WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL FOR JUSTIN GATLIN

I remember when Justin Gatlin just returned from his suspension back in 2010 and was struggling to run fast. Many of us scoffed at him thinking he would never run as fast because whatever drug he was taking would have long been out of his system and he would never again beat our beloved male sprinters like he beat Asafa back in Athens in 2004.

However, each year since then Gatlin has gone faster and faster and faster. Back in 2010 Gatlin’s best time was 10.09. By 2011, he had lowered his time to 9.95s, nothing to worry about many of us thought. Asafa with all his injury worries was a 9.8 man and Bolt, was still flying towards setting even more history in Daegu. Yohan Blake won the 100 metre title that year after his training partner false-started, and was on his way to 9.69.

The brash American started to become an issue of concern back in 2012 when Bolt had to pull out all the stops to best him at the Olympics in London. Gatlin ran a season best 9.79 in the final to finish third behind Bolt 9.63 and Blake’s 9.75. Bolt got the better of him in 2013 in Moscow when the American only managed to produce a season best 9.85 for silver. By this time Blake was out recovering from the first of consecutive hamstring tears.

However, come 2014 and Gatlin started to raise eyebrows. He went through the year unbeaten and produced a season ending run of 9.77 in Brussels. Bolt spent most of the season recovering from surgery and only ran three races before shutting down perhaps his poorest season yet. The thing is the American didn’t slow down at all. He opened 2015 with his fastest time yet and then reeled off times of  9.75, 9.75, 10.02 and 9.78, which made him the favourite to win gold in Beijing at this summer’s IAAF World Championships. In the eyes of many, including officials of the sports governing body, the two-time drug cheat was about to unseat the greatest sprinter of all time and become world champion, his first title since 2005.

In anticipation of what seemed inevitable, the IAAF issued a statement saying that even if he wins in Beijing, Gatlin would not be eligible for the coveted Athlete of the Year award because he is a two-time drug cheat and had committed serious doping offences. It was a hypocritical stance to take because – in my book – if he is allowed back in he should be allowed all the privileges that come with being able to compete. They allowed him back, so the IAAF should not be then allowed to change the rules. If they didn’t want to deal with the spectre of branded drug cheat hanging over the sport, they should have kept him out, refused him entry. No Gatlin, no problem.

Meanwhile, the fastest man in history was struggling to find form. Bolt struggled to wins in New York and in Brazil and looked like a shadow of  the man who blazed to world records 9.58 and 19.19 in Berlin seven years ago.Bolt was at a loss to explain why those famous legs of his were failing to fire. The ‘big engine’ was sputtering.

Since 2012 though, Bolt had seemingly lost the stomach for competition. Not that he was afraid of it, but one sensed that the super-talented sprinter, the point-man of Jamaica’s golden era was bored. When you have won as many gold medals at the Olympics (6) and created history by becoming the first man to repeat the Olympic sprint double and the first to win the double plus the sprint relay as well as  eight world titles with a handful of world records along the way, it’s hard to stay motivated. This is especially so when you’re raking in US$20 million a year and seen as the king of track and field and recognized and respected across the globe. They say when you have reached the pinnacle,the only place left to go is down.

And down is where Bolt was headed before the Gatlin threat arrived. The American has been unbeaten over 20-odd races since he lost to Bolt in Moscow in 2013 and as Bolt put it, people were talking about him (Bolt) as if he had retired; as if he was already history. It woke him up.

Bolt will probably deny it but in reality Justin Gatlin forced Bolt to want to be great again. Gatlin presented a new challenge, a new barrier to overcome, a new monster to defeat. Tyson Gay has been vanquished but Gatlin was the other head of the hydra that emerged for the champion to once again try to slay. Other than Blake, Gatlin is the clear and present danger to Bolt’s legacy. He presents that potential caveat that could diminish the greatness of his accomplishments over the past seven years.

Bolt plans to retire in 2017 and he wants to go out on top. Gatlin is a potential fly in that very important ointment.

So following his horrible run in New York in June, Bolt retreated to his camp in London and proceeded to hatch the plan that would see him re-stake his claim as the fastest man in the world. Bolt is the fastest ever, but there can be no doubt as to whom has been fastest in the past two years. Not even Gay in his heyday has been as consistently fast as Gatlin is now, so Bolt has had to whip himself back into shape. More importantly he has had to rediscover that hunger, that desire to be really fast once more as fast as the god Mercury.

We saw signs of it at the Sainsbury Anniversary Games in London in July where Bolt delivered back-to-back 9.87s. The big engine was heating up. The sweet growl was there once more.

Since then, reports have suggested that Bolt will be a lot faster in Beijing. The big engine has been humming in practice and is now ready once again to deliver at full throttle. The prospect of an in-form Bolt versus the super-fast  Gatlin in the 100 metres final in Beijing makes this clash perhaps the most anticipated 100-metre race in history. It pits the drug cheat against the pure champion, the hated American against the beloved Jamaican; evil versus good. This one stands to make the 1988 clash between Lewis versus Johnson in Seoul look like a prep school race.

The battle will be keen but the old Bolt is back and the world is waiting on pins on needles for it. This will be the clash of all clashes and for that, Bolt and the rest of us, have Gatlin to thank.