A beautiful soul, who I trained with at college in 2002. Undeniably he made some poor decisions, but he wasn't who he was made out to be by those who decided he was ripe to hold over people's "shadow". Such an incredible talent. Rest easy my friend.
A few other interesting tidbits I didn't see covered:
Once, in the early days, an article surfaced claiming Gatlin had popped for performance enhancing drugs. Gatlin's father was furious. Upon reading it, he reportedly grabbed his gun and went to find Graham to kill him. Only a glance at the date on the top of the paper saved Graham-- it was April 1; April Fool's Day. Of course, just months later the joke would become reality when Gatlin did indeed pop, this time for real.
The other trainer Chris Whetstine witnessed buying testosterone reportedly bragged he could get away with bringing it into the US 'because his wife was an FBI agent.'
When Gatlin popped, Salazar was pretty public in defending Whetstine and saying the nefarious massage story was nonsense.
Whetstine wasn't some random schlub. He was a respected trainer with a full practice, and he routinely worked with the whose-who of Hollywood (he was with Diddy during his NY Marathon, for ex). From that POV, the 'sabotage' angle never made since.
A few years later the story came full circle when Salazar was caught rubbing and then testing Testosterone on his son. His excuse? Following the Oregon relays, Rupp had felt someone briefly massage his shoulder. He turned around to see Whetstine skedaddle off. They had 'Heard the rumors' (the story about Whetstine pulling out the 'bottle with the crooked S') and thus were frightened Rupp had just been sabotaged by Whetstine. So they tested T on Salazar's son to see how long it would stay in Rupp's system. Trying to stay impartial here, but that story just REEKS of shadiness in every which way.
Then, of course, we find out just recently about Salazar's purported sexual assaults which occurred during....once again, massages.
The Gatlin situation is not the Shelby situation, and there is no point attempting to equate the two. BALCO was world-wide and the ramifications were massive, dramatically changing the landscape of multiple sports. The case involved world champ cyclists and HOF baseball players; laundering, threats, and various other felonies. Gatlin will forever be tied into that, like it or not. And his refusal to be transparent with the public will continue to sour his legacy. Ultimately, that's on him, not us.
To pretend that his legacy is being attacked over singular “mistakes” is disingenuous at best. These were not mistakes. He has had a terrible attitude in the public when it comes to this conversation. He has been anything but transparent. There’s always an excuse but never a conversation or care or concern or empathy about why the public is so concerned about this. And the sport is predicated on fandom. When you’re a professional athlete you’ll take money that’s essentially created by fandom, but you’re somehow above engaging the conversation over concern about cheating, about drugs, about the way athletes train, etc. When you willingly Choose your inner circle and over and over again who are also part of the problem, and not just small pieces. Trevor Graham and Dennis Mitchell are also cancers on the track World. And have been for decades. That is not a mistake. And then after getting popped and somehow stating, not a remorse, but a need for self preservation, a new priority to make sure you don’t put yourself in vulnerable positions, you still gladly go right back to those positions and those same people. I’m sorry, there’s no argument here. Justin Gatlin has done nothing to improve the reputation of the sport, and has trashed people even attempting to do exactly that. But he has done everything to preserve his own survival so he could stay in the sun. That’s not something to be proud of. He cheated his profession. He cheated every other athlete not just in his event but throughout the sport. He cheated every fan who watches, attends, aspires. It’s fraud. If you honor that and follow that, then what are you? When there are dozens of other athletes who bring compassion, and integrity, and haven’t cheated their sport and profession who you neglect in order to honor someone who has broken all of those virtue Ma while really communicating zero remorse, Care, or concern about the damage they have really contributed to. Writing this article itself is a waste of good copy. Honor those who are doing things the right way. Honor those people with your words, your time. There’s plenty out there.
Haven't read this yet but are you kidding? What is his legacy? One of the greatest sprinters of our era. 2nd to Bolt.
A great sprinter, one of the best of his generation.
Why would his legacy be in doubt? He served his ban, he performed when it mattered.
Greg, you get it. I agree with you 100% here. Also, don't you think it's weird that Rojo supports Shelby Houlihan, who refuses to apologize, but not Gaitlin, who apologizes OVER AND OVER AND OVER
No this is not surprising to me. Gatlin, while I do not like him because of his PED usage, is black and Houlihan is white.
They found her guilty of having a prohibitive substance in her body that is known to enhance performance. Interpret that as you will.
Still not found guilty of cheating.
And the drug in question is also known to be used as a growth enhancer in farming.
Not in pork production. It's illegal in the US to use it for pig farming and during Shelby's arbitration, they sourced the meat and the factory/farm the pig was harvested at was not using it. This was all made apparent during the Burritogate sage. It's almost like your trolling now....
I want people to not cheat. I don't care if you are sorry after the fact. Just don't do it and then you don't have to be sorry. One strike and you are out as far as I'm concerned. His legacy is someone that could have been great but cheated and nothing done after matters.
And the drug in question is also known to be used as a growth enhancer in farming.
Not in pork production. It's illegal in the US to use it for pig farming and during Shelby's arbitration, they sourced the meat and the factory/farm the pig was harvested at was not using it. This was all made apparent during the Burritogate sage. It's almost like your trolling now....
Just saying that the drug is used both in sport and animals even though banned in both.
I haven't read all of the comments in this thread. However, I do see several in a row from people saying that he served his time and paid the price.
That doesn't wash. For one, some PEDs provide performance benefits long after they are taken. Also, he very suspiciously was fast as he aged and everyone around save for Bolt and Bailey were caught, implicated or missed tests.
Other people being guilty or associated, so therefore assumed guilty or suspected, doesn't make him less guilty of cheating. He cheated, his legacy is like Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong, he was wrong and should have been banned for eight years or life after his second time.
We need to approach the sport, especially sprinting, with the same skepticism as we do cycling. The whole sport reeks. WADA, USADA etc hang one individual out to dry every few years to distract from the fact that everyone is on something that either toes the line of legality or is completely over it.
+1
Here is the list of all sub-9.8 sprinters: 9.58 Bolt (doped teammate) - Jam 9.69 Blake - doped - Jam 9.69 Gay - doped - US 9.72 Powell - doped - Jam 9.74 Gatlin - doped - US 9.76 Coleman (banned for 3 whereabout failures in 12 months) - US 9.77 Bromell (doped teammate) - US 9.77 Omanyala – doped - Ken 9.78 Carter – doped - Jam 9.78 (DQ) Montgomery – doped - US 9.79 (DQ) Johnson – doped - Can 9.79 Greene – doped - US
Yes and still to this day people will contend until they are blue in the face that the guy at the top of the list was able to overcome all this "chopped liver" below him that were just a bunch of 10.1 guys who cheated to sub 9.8 ^^....
Anyways what is Gatlins legacy? Well ultimately he was sprinter who doped and was successful doing so but similar to the tour, he wasn't doing anything anyone else wasn't. That doesn't acquit him in any way - it just gives context. I actually changed a little on Gatlin in the sense that I probably begun with the obvious and default position that he was a terrible, fraudulent person but as I grew up I realized it's just sports after all and really in the grand scheme of life is kind of irrelevant.
Today I find that I oddly have a soft spot for Gatlin based on this. He kind of exposed how lame and ineffective doping control really is in the sport and was completely unashamed in doing so. He might as well have stuck up a middle finger running down the home straight it was that comical. We know he cheated (twice) yet came back as an older man, ran faster and even won a world title beating Usain Bolt in his farewell race. Just superb. Throughout all of it we never heard idiotic excuses like "tainted meat" or "too much sex the night before" - he just sat there straight faced, gave empty'ish apologies then went out an continued to win races right in our faces knowing we couldn't do anything about it. I'll give it to him - he's a resilient muthaf----r, not just physically but more so mentally.
We need to approach the sport, especially sprinting, with the same skepticism as we do cycling. The whole sport reeks. WADA, USADA etc hang one individual out to dry every few years to distract from the fact that everyone is on something that either toes the line of legality or is completely over it.
+1
Here is the list of all sub-9.8 sprinters: 9.58 Bolt (doped teammate) - Jam 9.69 Blake - doped - Jam 9.69 Gay - doped - US 9.72 Powell - doped - Jam 9.74 Gatlin - doped - US 9.76 Coleman (banned for 3 whereabout failures in 12 months) - US 9.77 Bromell (doped teammate) - US 9.77 Omanyala – doped - Ken 9.78 Carter – doped - Jam 9.78 (DQ) Montgomery – doped - US 9.79 (DQ) Johnson – doped - Can 9.79 Greene – doped - US
+1
Gatlin was caught and served his ban, but he was actually caught twice. The first was in college for amphetamines. Drugs change the body, possibly permanently since it allows harder training and developing more muscle mass that stays even after use. So we can never know how good he was without the drugs.
The Gatlin situation is not the Shelby situation, and there is no point attempting to equate the two. BALCO was world-wide and the ramifications were massive, dramatically changing the landscape of multiple sports. The case involved world champ cyclists and HOF baseball players; laundering, threats, and various other felonies. Gatlin will forever be tied into that, like it or not. And his refusal to be transparent with the public will continue to sour his legacy. Ultimately, that's on him, not us.
This 100%. Definitely not a race issue. Gatlin was a big dog who found himself embroiled in a massive scandal.
Shelb, well, about a hundred or so people (all in the us) cared about her situation.
Haven't read this yet but are you kidding? What is his legacy? One of the greatest sprinters of our era. 2nd to Bolt.
A great sprinter, one of the best of his generation.
Why would his legacy be in doubt? He served his ban, he performed when it mattered.
Greg, you get it. I agree with you 100% here. Also, don't you think it's weird that Rojo supports Shelby Houlihan, who refuses to apologize, but not Gaitlin, who apologizes OVER AND OVER AND OVER
Not sure where the idea that Lets Run are being unfair to Gatlin comes from. They have actually been fairly supportive of him in the past noting his first positive for ADHD medication and disapproving when he was booed on his return to track. He's a cheat in my eyes and that is his legacy but I don't get why people need to find any excuse to bash Rojo or the website.