When the dust settled on Usain Bolt’s stunning world championships victory over two-time doping offender Justin Gatlin in the men’s 100 meters, the natural order of athletics remained intact – just.
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And Gatlin held the lead at the halfway point but Bolt opened up and put the pressure on the American, tipping him in a photo-finish.
Gatlin, a renowned fast starter who has not lost over 100m or 200m since 2013 and has set personal bests for both distances – 9.74 and 19.57 – this season, pegged equal with Bolt out of the blocks.
Once Diack moved past him to give Bolt his gold medal, Gatlin glared at someone and then pointed with his right finger. After losing to Usain Bolt in a tight race the night before, Gatlin was asked over and over if he thought his loss was good for sprinting.
The six-time Olympic champion’s run of 9.79s in the 100m final was evidence he is clearly in shape to go much faster than his season’s best of 20.13, which ranks him just 19th in the world.
To say Bolt has saved the sport with this win may have been a little sensationalist, as was the “good and evil” tagline which accompanied this 100-metre duel, per Gibson.
Bolt has been dealing with injuries for the season, which made the win all the more meaningful to him.
His title run also had seemed a hard one as 33-year-old in-form Gatlin has been in a brilliant form, not yet losing once since the 2013 Worlds, winning all 22 races.
Former world hurdles champion Colin Jackson said: “Justin Gatlin will kick himself because he will never, ever get a better chance to beat Usain Bolt“.
But on Sunday, two days after his 29th birthday, the view is that Bolt may have done so, by saving the reputation of his sport.
For his part, Gatlin may believe there is nothing more to be said on the subject and feels unfairly singled out given there were three other competitors in the final who had also served doping bans (the Americans Tyson Gay and Mike Rodgers, along with Bolt’s Jamaican team-mate Asafa Powell).
Meanwhile, Gatlin expressed his frustration at being billed as the villain in the build-up to the race as a result of his previous suspensions.
Gatlin stumbled across the line 0.01sec behind as the crisis-hit sport breathed a sigh of relief. Bolt added: “I’ve shown the world that it is possible to do it clean“. My family are incredible, I have to thank my husband for all his support and my little boy. “So for me I knew that if I’m going to come here and win I’d have to run a great race, and a well-executed race, so for me I’m just happy that I got it done and I’m proud of myself”, said Bolt.
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“I wish everybody would get over it, and everything they have done, I respect that, I think everyone should respect that”.
