1st: Justin is a HUGE talent. He has been since High School. I know Marion Jones and Mary Slaney were huge talents as well, and both cheated, but the point is, genetically, Gatlin is capable of running very fast naturally.
2nd: His first suspension was bogus and never should have happened. He is a 1-time drug cheat as far as I am concerned.
4 years was excessive.
3rd: Gatlin is not smart. I remember watching the 2004 Olympics and seeing Gatlin and Crawford and saying to my gf at the time, "those 2 are the most obviously doped athletes I have ever seen". However, part of me really believes he didn't know, or had willful blindness or something.
Wasn't he dating Alyson Felix at the time, who is the cleanest sprinter ever? Wasn't he part of the whole initiative against doping? Not saying that makes him clean, but I think his lack of intelligence and acceptance of his coaches/agents really played a big hand in his case.
It would not shock me if he was told he was getting B12... but to any reasonably intelligent person, they would have gotten the *wink wink* and it just escaped him.
Graham probably told him the masseuse must have done it... and he believed him because, again, he's just not that smart.
5th: I disagree, Sprint Geezer. I don't think doping stays with you. There is no reason why it would.
6th: It is incredible that he is back to his old level. I don't care how he got back... just to have the commitment and perseverance is admirable.
If Gatlin is clean now (I would assume he is), he deserves all the riches and accolades that are showered on him.
He did his time, more then he should have done, and fought back. That is admirable.