American Justin Gatlin had already tossed down the gauntlet for Jaimaica’s Usain Bolt earlier this month and Sunday afternoon he did it again.
Just three weeks after breaking Bolt’s meet record in the 100 meters at the Golden Gala Diamond League meet in Rome, Gatlin laid down another rocket time, this time in the 200 meters at the United States Championships in Eugene, Ore. Gatlin set down a time of 19.57, a meet record and the fastest time Gatlin has ever put up.
Gatlin didn’t run in the 100 meters, because he’d already pocketed his ticket to the World Championships in that event, running a 9.74 in Rome on June 5.
https://youtu.be/4HPFQ34Rz7w?t=59s
Factor in Asafa Powell taking the 100 meters in Jamaica last Friday with a time of 9.84 and Yohan Blake, if he can get qualified for the 200 and get over his hamstring issues, you have to throw his name in there too. USA’s Tyson Gay will be there in the 100 meters, getting an invite with a 9.87. We’re heading for another sprinter showdown, with Bolt wearing the target at which every other speedster on planet Earth is aiming.
Bolt, it should be said, didn’t run in either of these races, even the Jamaica trials since he’s already qualified for the 100 and 200 at Worlds. Bolt holds the current world record in both events, running a 9.58 in 2009 in the 100 and a 19.19 in the 200 in London in 2012. Gatlin’s times, as impressive as they are, would not be within two yards of Bolt at the finish line of either race.
Bolt isn’t unbeatable. At smaller events, he’s known to not put in the training he should and has been bested before, but never at anything close to the rocket times he puts up at major events. Bolt is a big-game player and there’s never been a faster human being in the history of the world.
Gatlin and Blake have both beaten Bolt before in a smaller meet, with Gatlin’s win coming by 100th of a second in Rome in 2013. Bolt then blazed by him two months later at the Worlds. What a difference a stage makes.
Gatlin, too, has some issues and baggage he has to drag along with him in every race. He’s been banned twice for doping, a two-year ban from 2001-2003 and a four-year ban from 2006-2010. Gatlin is 33-years-old and laying down the fastest times of his life. It’s a little suspicious.
Gay has also been hit with a one-year ban for doping before the 2013 World Championships that not only knocked him out of competing for a year, but got his 2012 100 meter Olympic silver medal stripped away. Gay didn’t run the 200 meters Sunday, so he’s probably clean, but, frankly, neither American runner can come into the World Championships without expecting some extra scrutiny.
Blake is a safe bet to be running clean because he’s had so much trouble staying healthy. That doesn’t mean his history is clean. Blake had to sit down for three months after testing positive for a stimulant back in 2009.
Powell tested positive for a stimulant too, oxilofrine, back in July 2013 and was suspended for a year. None of the legitimate contenders for the 100 meters or 200 meters competing at the World Championships in Beijing this August will come in without sin, save one; Usain Bolt.
The fact that every other world-class sprinter has felt the need, sometimes more than once, to dope either with stimulants or testosterone, shows the kind of freak athlete that Usain Bolt actually is. He’s a real-life mutant, an X-Man, a super hero that can perform at a level unheard of in the history of humanity.
We, the people watching, need to appreciate Bolt while we have him, because the world may not see his like again. And the fact that every other guy has to be pumped up with Fallout stimpaks to even stay in the same video frame with him should prove that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6bbQq2Xy7Q
