dkny64 wrote:
coach d: thanks for the further thoughts. It seems to me that there are 3 times in Gatlin's career when his progression has seemed potentially suspicious:
1) goes from very good but not stone-cold great HS hurdler to NCAA champ as true freshman at TN. Were there PED rumors in Knoxville in those years?
2) goes from 10.0x guy at end of sophomore year at TN in spring 2002 to Olymipc champion in 2004 [under Trevor Graham]
3) steadily improves from 10.10 guy in 2010 to 9.7x guy in 2015 at advanced age.
It seems plausible to me that all three of those progressions involve PEDs - curious to understand a bit more about why you think only 3 does.
The specifics on the progressions [per the IAAF site] are:
1) [2000-2001] 10.36 - 10.08
2) [2002-2004] 10.05 - 9.97 - 9.85
3) [2010-2015] 10.09 - 9.95 - 9.79 - 9.85 - 9.77 - 9.74
And yes, maybe you're right. Maybe the first one is " raw talent gets good coaching at TN for the first time in his life"; the second is "Trevor Graham knows more about sprinting than the coaches at TN" [and doesn't give Gatlin PEDs because Gatin is good enough and young enough to win without them]; and it's only number three under Dennis "The Good Husband" Mitchell that reflects PED use [at an age when recovering from workouts and avoiding injury becomes very difficult without them.]