Justin Gatlin flies home claiming Beijing organisers do not want him

I do run run run wrote:

This is what all the major meets should do. Any meet reserves the right to turn anybody away. Marion Jones got turned away before her bans once she worked with Charlie Francis no one would touch her. Got denied entrance. I think the Shanghai meet is just being smart, don't want to touch that BS with a ten foot pole. Shut this MF down! He talks about respect, what an a$$

It's still surprising coming from the Chinese. Some part of the story isn't being told yet.

By Gatlin's own words, he did not belong racing there. He talked about cramping up after Doha. Anybody who has been a sprinter, coached sprinters, or knows much about the sport is going to know that 4 days is not adequate time to recover from a PR/statement kind of race and the 6th fastest time ever run. Even a week would be pushing it. Go back to the 2008 OT when Tyson Gay ran 9.68w and see what happened in the 200m prelims a few days later. Either Gatlin would have to "jog" through in, say, 10.05 or he's going to get injured. And the get injured part is probably what scared the Chinese, because that would mean no Bolt-Gatlin faceoff at their world championships. Go to Rome, go to Ostrava, go to Oslo even, but AFTER your body recovers from 9.74.

Another thing that has not been discussed here is that Renaldo Nehemiah is perhaps even a more polarizing figure on the circuit than Gatlin. He has a bad attitude and a LOT of people (including a lot of race directors) don't like him. It would be just like him after the 9.74 to ask for a lot more appearance fee after they already had an agreement. It would not surprise me at all if that is the real reason for Gatlin being kicked out.

wang again wrote:

The Chinese were afraid that he would set a WR and that the IAAF then would have found out that the track is short.

Pretty sure that track was destroyed in the mid 90's and a new stadium was built.

Sounds like they thought he wasn't racing, put an alternate in his place, then didn't want to kick the alternate off again.

wejo wrote:

Ben Johnson admits to taking steriods but claims he only tested positive because of someone in the Carl Lewis camp sabotaged him.

Great documentary

The other guy! wrote:

wang again wrote:

The Chinese were afraid that he would set a WR and that the IAAF then would have found out that the track is short.

Pretty sure that track was destroyed in the mid 90's and a new stadium was built.

It's an urban legend. Workers Stadium hosted the 1990 Asian Games but no one talks about that because Coach Ma didn't have his Army then. The track was 400 meters like every other track. How they hell would the hurdlers have hit their marks and why were all the men's performances in line with what they always were? And again in just the women's 1500m in Shanghai in 1997?

Look they hire all sorts of drug users to entertain the crowd but Gatlin comes to them and says I'm sub-par in my entertainment skills. They say sorry we do not hire subpar entertainers you should have told us before you flew over. After you tell us you are subpar and we say no job you say OK I'm all fit now. Well we think your full of Niú fènbiàn.

BTW did you know your bags did not really fly free?.

dsafkjdsaljflk;sadjfklsaf wrote:

What is all this talk about a short track?

Same question. What gives?

To be fair to Ben the guy who Carl got to spike his drink is on record saying "it was a long time ago maybe I did maybe I didn't". Which is a yes, his old coach also creamed his pants in delight of his deed after he got asked in the ESPN doc. Also Carl tested positive as well if were going down this route. Biggest dick in sports that man.

Jeff Wigand wrote:

The other guy! wrote:

Pretty sure that track was destroyed in the mid 90's and a new stadium was built.

It's an urban legend. Workers Stadium hosted the 1990 Asian Games but no one talks about that because Coach Ma didn't have his Army then. The track was 400 meters like every other track. How they hell would the hurdlers have hit their marks and why were all the men's performances in line with what they always were? And again in just the women's 1500m in Shanghai in 1997?

Stop trying to take over the thread. You do this every time someone mentions the chinese records.

Carl Loserwis wrote:

Also Carl tested positive as well if were going down this route

Yes, Carl Lewis tested positive for trace amounts of nasal decongestants contained in an herbal supplement he & other members of his track club had been taking. The case was dismissed; nobody was suspended. Inadvertent use of trivial amounts of nasal decongestant drugs which have little if any performance-enhancing effect is a wee bit different from many years of systematic doping with anabolic steroids.

In other news Hitler and Sara Johnson, who was busted for jaywalking in 1988, are both guilty of "crimes."

In the Wade Exxum data, Carl tested positive for Contac and Sudafed. That's it.

The track was thought of as short or the runners ran 24 laps instead of 25 because of the freaky times the middle and long distance runners ran on the track. They also never did these times again.

TAA wrote:

Stop trying to take over the thread. You do this every time someone mentions the chinese records.

I'm not taking over anything. I'm correcting misinformation.

Down with IDMC wrote:

The track was thought of as short or the runners ran 24 laps instead of 25

Neither of which happened. The meet was timed by Omega. Foreign press, including Track and Field News, was there. The hurdlers hit their marks, nothing strange happened at the Asian Games in 1990 at the same track, it was only the women that ran out of their minds (and again in 1997 in Shanghai). You can tell all your friends: it wasn't shortened distance that got Ma's Army their records.

i deux run run wrote:

I do run run run wrote:

This is what all the major meets should do. Any meet reserves the right to turn anybody away. Marion Jones got turned away before her bans once she worked with Charlie Francis no one would touch her. Got denied entrance. I think the Shanghai meet is just being smart, don't want to touch that BS with a ten foot pole. Shut this MF down! He talks about respect, what an a$$

It's still surprising coming from the Chinese. Some part of the story isn't being told yet.

Of course it isn't. The explanation from "I do run run run" is just foolish. He wasn't "denied entrance," he was already paid.

Coach D speaks the truth. After something special happened with the 9.79, Gatlin was not about to run flat out through the line in China in May. Anyone who follows sprints should get this. He probably started to simper about this, make up some stories about being dehydrated (a star sprinter can't get all the fluids he needs on a first-class flight?), blah blah blah and the Chinese took it at face value and put in an alternate.

already *entered ^

Yep, just 'turtle soup', which is now banned.. really those times and 10.49 are pointless. 10.61 would give more legitimacy, only 1 tenth off probable WRs.

Now Gatliin has reveresed course and is praising the Beijing organizers:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150521/jsp/sports/story_21276.jsp?#.VV1MJPlVhBc

"Emotional day. All is fine with Beijing Org & me," he posted on Twitter.

"We have a great relationship and I look forward to being there in Aug for worlds & next year for the meet."