Drugs
Drugs.
Countdown until the "2 the gills!" guy shows up
Gatroids is my favorite natural fish
If the reason is drugs why aren't other sprinters still running fast at that age.
Wait.
He's the first runner to try using drugs to keep running fast?
If anyone wants to cite some drugs which keep the nervous system excitable and the protein elastin in your tendons optimised then I’m all ears.
From reading around, the dude’s obsessed with recovery and performance to a point few other athletes will bother with past a certain age, and has the financial backing and motivation to do as well as he can whilst still being competitive for podium places.
Most athletes simply don’t have that. You get tired. You get bored and / or unmotivated. You have a serious injury or two which - if they don’t basically end your competitive career - set you back across the physical spectrum to a point where you’re exhausted by it all and can’t face attempting to rebuild lost physical attributes again knowing you’ll probably end up a tier below what you once were. Suddenly it no longer makes financial sense (the big one), the fight’s gone etc.
Then there’s the psychological elements (placebo / expectations - what would be a drop in form at 26 is suddenly a sign of terminal decline at 32), stress levels (impacting recovery / motivation), commitments, change in life goals, genetics, training history, drugs etc to consider.
We know intrinsic ageing harms athletic performance, but there’s so many variables and such a reduced talent pool of full time healthy athletes past a certain age that it’s hard to pin down exactly how much decline should be expected, and when.
Athletes occasionally won sprint events at the ancient Olympics in their mid - late 30s, it’s clearly not a complete career death sentence.
His muscles changed form when he took PEDs.
Parking the issue of the long term benefits of PEDs, his body had an enforced rest from the performance extremes only really experienced while racing during his ban. There's also the psychological element of feeling he's got something to prove. The perceived injustice, whether justified or not, gives him motivation that others will not have.
It is crazy to think he was 2004 Olympic Champion.
Bolt won his first Olympic medal in 2008 and is now retired, while Gatlin is trying to get on the podium again in 2021.
Justin Gatlin currently is NOT on pace to surpass Kim Collins, 9.93 100m at age 40. If Gatlin at age 40 sprints 100m sub-9.90, not wind aided, we can then have this debate. Gatlin is age 39.
Bolt’s retired because a significant hamstring injury in 2014 hastened his decline and by the end of his career he was becoming beatable even if his hamstring did hold up. Hamstring tears are nasty.
It will be interesting to see if he can make the Olympic team this year.
A fan?
Extreme talent
Extreme work ethic
Chip on shoulder
It’s amazing what you can do at any age with all three these.
He seems to finally be slowing down.
Trials are soon, and he will really need to step it up a notch to go as an individual. He just might make it as a relay alternate.
He will need to show that he can still summon maxx race-day jack, which he hasn’t yet shown this year.
And Collins’ 9.93 had max wind iirc, and is within Gatlin’s reach given similar conditions. Might be next year, too—but I see this as the setting of the Gatlin sun.
He’s extremely talented and savvy, but other guys are more hungry.
IMO
Or
Eat Clen
Tren Hard
Anavar Give up