After finishing second to Justin Gatlin and claiming his spot on Team USA, Tyson Gay took the pressroom podium with a look of indifference. He reserved his most impassioned words for a shout-out to his corporate sponsors, a group that has supported him “since day one.”
Competing unattached, the formerly disgraced Gatlin didn’t have that luxury. His lack of marketability makes sense; few brands desire association with a man once known as a doper, a fraud and a has-been.
Yet, six years after falling from grace, Gatlin appears to be having the last laugh. The former Olympic gold medalist — who missed the ’08 Games after testing positive for a banned substance — leaves Eugene as the fastest man in America. He shocked the track and field world by running 9.80 to win the final of the 100 meters at the Olympic Trials Sunday afternoon. He will join Gay and third-place finisher Ryan Bailey, a native Oregonian, in London this summer.
“I’ve been through some dark past,” Gatlin admitted after the race. “What really helped me keep my faith was the faith of my fans. Them believing me, wanting me to come back, knowing that I’m a true athlete.”
HIs rise to international fame was swift. He won six NCAA titles while at the University of Tennessee before turning pro after his sophomore season. Two years later, he bested his compatriot — sprinting legend Maurice Greene — to claim Olympic gold in Athens.
Gatlin was undeniably an American hero — at least temporarily. His pristine image would be shattered in March 2006 when the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced he had tested positive for a banned substance. He was hardly alone: Seven other athletes training under coach Trevor Graham, including track star Marion Jones, had also turned up positive as part of a wide-spread scandal. Regardless, for Gatlin the revelation was earth-shattering — and potentially career-ending.
Ultimately, he agreed to an eight-year ban from track and field, avoiding a lifetime ban in exchange for cooperation. Yet, when the USADA announced its final ruling, Gatlin caught a break. Due to “exceptional circumstances” surrounding his first positive drug test, he would receive only a four-year ban.
Having already reached the pinnacle of his profession, he was at a crossroads. Would he tackle the daunting task of a long-term return or simply hang up the spikes? In the end, he chose the former. Now 30 years old, Gatlin says the past is behind him.
“I’ve just been really focused on honing in and sticking to what I know — going out there and just being a fast runner,” he said. “Breaking it back down to the simplest forms of competing.”
Sprints are traditionally considered a young man’s game. So how did Gatlin find his second wind? Simply put: a massive change in perspective.
“I have a son now,” he said. “He mimics me already at two years old. He knows what Daddy does. Just seeing the joy on his face, being able to bring him out here on the track, it empowers me to be a better person all around.”
He also credits his return to a newfound dedication to proper nutrition.
“Before 2004, I was not really worried about my health,” he said. “Not really worried about my intake, my diet. Those are the key things to being a great runner.
“I look at myself almost as a race car; I can’t carry extra weight. My power, my strength level, my confidence has been there. This season, so far, I’ve been undefeated. I’ve just been trying to carry on and ride that wave.”
As far as racing tactics, he said he knew he’d need a strong close to come out on top at Hayward Field.
“The middle phase had to be almost flawless,” he said. “To bring home it, I had to make sure I had precise technique to come through the line. Basically, other than that, the race was a blur. I just gutted it out as much as I could.
As Gatlin enjoyed newly minted redemption, Gay — who finished second in 9.85 seconds — seemed to bristle. Prior to the race, Gay’s coach had expressed optimism that he could reach his goal of making the Olympic team with relative ease. After the task had been completed, Gay admitted the feat wasn’t easy.
“I had to run my heart out to make this team,” Gay said. “Guys are tough; I knew no one was going to lie down.”
Looking forward, the new standard for the Americans will be Jamaican. World-renowned sprinters Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell run in their qualifying later this week and will almost surely await the U.S. in London. Gatlin, who narrowly bested Powell on the International Association of Athletics Federations’ circuit in May, expressed confidence that America will challenge for the podium.
“I don’t think I would come back to a sport where I would be OK with getting second or third,” he said. “We all have our eye on the prize; we want to get that gold. If it’s going to be three Jamaicans in our way or the whole world in our way, that’s what it’s going to take.”