The battle to be crowned world’s fastest man takes center stage at the Rio Olympics today, with Usain Bolt facing another showdown with Justin Gatlin and the image of athletics on the line.
Twelve months ago, when Bolt vanquished Gatlin in the World Championship 100m final, many suggested that the Jamaican sprint king had “saved” his sport from a bruising body blow to its reputation.
The prospect of 2004 Olympic champion Gatlin — twice found guilty of doping during his career — was too much to stomach for many in athletics.
Photo: EPA
Yet the notion that Bolt’s victory in Beijing had set track and field on a road to redemption turned out to be woefully premature.
In the 12 months since, athletics has been left reeling by a corruption scandal involving top-level administrators and revelations over Russian doping that plunged the sport into the worst crisis in its history.
It means that the 100m final at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Stadium, set for 1:25am GMT on Monday, will inevitably once more be framed as a battle of “good versus evil” — Bolt versus Gatlin.
Photo: AFP
In a global audience of hundreds of millions, many fans, including International Association of Athletics Federations chief Sebastian Coe, might be tempted to watch through their fingers.
Gatlin, 34, wearily rejects a narrative he sees as unfair, adamant that his story is far more nuanced than the bald, oft-applied label — “two-time dope cheat” — implies.
His first doping suspension in 2001 arose from the use of a drug to treat attention deficit disorder that he had been prescribed since childhood. The US panel hearing that case found that he “was certainly not a doper.”
Photo: AP
A second positive in 2006 — for excessive levels of testosterone — was more problematical. Gatlin blamed the results on sabotage by a therapist, but was banned for eight years, later reduced to four on appeal.
“It’s hurtful, it’s hurtful to be looked at as a villain because that’s not how I portray myself, that’s not how my son portrays me or my family,” said Gatlin, who booked his ticket to Rio with the fastest 100m time in the world this year last month, 9.8 seconds.
Bolt is aiming to sign off a majestic Olympic career by defending his triple crown of 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles for a third straight Olympics.
The 29-year-old has endured a frustrating season, repeatedly bothered by a hamstring problem that has required extensive treatment and forced him to cut short his appearance at Jamaica’s trials in Kingston in July.
However he appeared in relaxed mood on Monday at his first press conference since arriving in Brazil.
Even when asked about his sport’s year of shame, which culminated with Russia barred from the Olympics, Bolt was upbeat.
“For me I think we’re going in the right direction, I must say,” Bolt said.
“We’re weeding out the bad ones,” he said, adding that he was unconcerned by the prospect of lining up against opponents who are not clean.
“In life nothing is guaranteed, but for me going out there, I never worry about it,” he said.
SWIMMING
AP, RIO DE JANEIRO
Anthony Ervin finally has an Olympic gold medal to replace the one he sold 16 years ago.
The 35-year-old American won the men’s 50m freestyle at the Rio de Janeiro Games on Friday.
Ervin touched first in 21.4 seconds — 0.01 seconds ahead of defending champion Florent Manaudou of France. Teammate and former training partner Nathan Adrian claimed bronze.
“It’s surreal, kind of absurd,” Ervin said. “When I touched and turned around and saw the ‘1’ next to my name, I kind of smiled and laughed.”
At the 2000 Sydney Games, Ervin tied teammate Gary Hall Jr for gold in the 50m freestyle, making him one of the sport’s rising stars.
However, he walked away in 2003, burned out on swimming and seeking to find a deeper meaning to life. He auctioned his gold medal for US$17,100 and donated the proceeds to help people affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Ervin said he lost his silver from the 400m freestyle relay in Sydney.
After leaving the sport in 2003, Ervin spent eight years working odd jobs, moved from California to New York and then back again, and finished his college degree at California. In Berkeley, Ervin was coaching young kids at the pool when he rediscovered his love of the sport that remains to this day.
“You just think about trying to swim the race that you imagine you can do,” he said. “Maybe it starts as a dream and then it’s a plan. You plan to do something and you start testing that plan. I don’t think my age should limit me and I don’t think fear of defeat should limit me either.”
The gold medal hung around Ervin’s neck, seemingly more comfortably than it did in Sydney.
“I’m keeping it for now,” he said. “Who knows what the future holds?”
In women’s competition, late bloomer Maya DiRado won two golds, a silver and bronze in her first and last Olympics, capping the final meet of her career with a stunning upset of triple gold-medalist Katinka Hosszu in the 200m backstroke.
Hosszu had beaten the 23-year-old American in two earlier events at the Rio Games, winning the 200 and 400 individual medleys while DiRado claimed bronze in the shorter race and silver in the longer one.
DiRado turned the tables in the backstroke after closely chasing the Hungarian in the next lane throughout the race. She out-touched Hosszu at the wall, winning by 0.06 seconds.
DiRado gasped upon seeing the scoreboard, her brown eyes wide open.
“That’s all you can ask for in that last 50 is to be in a battle for a gold medal. I was just thrashing my body as hard as I could, my legs totally seized up,” she said.
SHOT PUT
AP, RIO DE JANEIRO
Michelle Carter waited until her last throw on Friday night to knock off arguably the best woman to ever compete in the shot put — two-time defending champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand.
It marked the first gold by a US woman in the event and just the second medal ever. She joined an exclusive club that, until Friday, only included Earlene Brown, who won bronze at the 1960 Games.
“It’s not over ’til it’s over,” Carter said. “I knew it was a good throw, but I didn’t know how far it could be.”
The throw went 20.63m to overtake Adams and break her own US record. Adams had the final attempt of the evening, but could not come close.
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