Run to Win

After Justin Gatlin first faced his ban from professional track & field for steroid use, he started working out for a few NFL football teams. Nothing came from it, though, and none of the teams that he worked out for last year brought him in for a formal workout.

This offseason, however, he has gone in for a minicamp workout for Tampa Bay.

“This is where I want to be,” Gatlin said. “I didn’t come here on my high horse, all mighty, and saying give me a locker and let me do what I want to do. I’m starting from the ground up, and that’s where I want to start.” [...] “He won a gold medal. He wants to give this a shot, and this is a good launching pad to see how quickly he picks it up, how natural he is and how far he has to go,” Gruden said.

If he gets signed, I think that he would do all right from himself as a football player. He would have to ramp up to participating in a contact sport, and he would have to do it fast enough to avoid getting cut. That is not a small hurdle, but he has played football before and he seems to be able to catch the ball. He could probably do all right as a kick-off or punt returner, and perhaps win a roster spot as a receiver after he has had the time to learn some routes and has proven that he can take a hit.

I think that if he does cross over from Track & Field to football, though, that he would not be able to go back. I think that he would become too beat up too fast to be able to be competitive as a sprinter. If his appeal loses and he does get banned from the sport, though, then his most competitive years would be lost to him anyway.

(Source: ESPN.com)

Justin Gatlin was at the top of his game when he tied the 100 meter world record. After doping allegations, though, he faces an 8 year ban from international competition and being stripped of his records. Out of work but still a world class athlete, he explored a career in the NFL.

Now, he has made another (short term) career move. He is going to help coach the Woodham High School track team in their last track season before the school closes. He graduated from the school in 2000, and wants to help them reach a state championship.

“It’s beyond exciting,” said senior Joshua Jones, who runs the 400 meters and 300-meter hurdles. “Justin Gatlin for us, being from Woodham High School … he’s the biggest thing in our track lives right now. He’s a model. He’s what we want to be.”

I think this is a great move for him. His case is still pending appeal, and I enjoyed watching him race and followed his career. I do think that he should be banned for his latest doping scandal, but I do not think that his first misunderstanding in college with a ritalin prescription should effect his professional career. My two cents are barely worth that, though.

I hope that he is as good of a coach and motivator as he is a sprinter. I think that it could really help those kids out to have somebody like him to help guide them along. Assuming, of course, that he keeps up his talk about cheating, and does not at any point in time encourage those kids to use steroids. I do not expect that he will.

(Source: ESPN.com)

Having been banned from track and field for illegal doping, Justin Gatlin has started working out for different NFL teams over the past month. He has not played football since he was in high school. He has an appeal coming up early next year, but if he loses the appeal it would certainly help him to pay the bills and stay in shape for the next few years until he can return to the track circuit.

Justin Gatlin made news earlier this year when he broke the world record in 100 meters. Due to a timing error, his world record time was rolled back to equal the existing record set by Asafa Powell. It all became a moot point, however, when it was determined that Justin Gatlin was using some type of steroid and his records were dropped.

He specifically has worked out with the Houston Texans, but they apparently do not have any intention of offering him a contract right now. He did all right catching the ball as a receiver, and they were very impressed with his speed. They are not sure that he would be able to make that step up to a contact sport, no matter how fast he is.

This week last year concentrated on the wrapping up of the World Championships in Helsinki.

• The World Championships in Helsinki wrapped up, ending with the Marathon. The first cheater was also caught this week last year: Neelam Jaswant Singh.
• I predicted the record chase between Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin. Wilson Kipketer announced his retirement.
• In an attempt to force Antonio Gates to sign a contract, the San Diego Chargers suspended him for the season opener.

There were also a few other small football and running related news items, but nothing worth reporting on.

Asafa Powell has run 100 meters in 9.77 seconds for the third time, this time in Zurich at the Weltklasse Golden League meet earlier today.

“It felt good out there,” said Powell, who led from start to finish, with American Tyson Gay finishing second in a personal best of 9.84. [...] His latest record run came despite an arduous trip from Jamaica, which took three days because of disruptions caused by the alleged terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from London.

He is coming close to setting a new world record. He is consistently matching his current record, which only one other person has managed to run so far. Justin Gatlin broke the record on May 12 in 9.76, but his time was raised by a second after it was discovered that there had been a rounding error. Now, Gatlin stands to lose his record due to doping charges, in which case Asafa Powell will sit alone at the top again.

I expect that we will see a new record by the end of this year. Asafa Powell is absolutely dominating the distance right now. Hopefully he will set a new record and can own it by himself, so that people can mention his feat (which he has owned for over a year now) without bringing Gatlin into the conversation.

(Source: BBC News)

Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell have dominated the 100 meter sprint for the past few years. Asafa Powell set the bar at 9.77 seconds in June of 2005. Justin Gatlin broke that record in 9.76 on May 12, 2006, only to later be corrected and to have his time adjusted to a record-tying 9.77 seconds. The two were supposed to race each other on June 11^th, but Justin Gatlin has been held up by a knee injury for the last few months. Asafa Powell equaled his 9.77 second performance from 2005 during the meet.

I have been looking forward to seeing a race between the two. I think that if both were at the top of their form, we would see them both go under 9.77 (weather permitting). However, this may not happen now.
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Apparantly, there was a rounding error last week when Justin Gatlin broke the world record in the 100 meters. His official timing came through in 9.766, which means that his time should have been manually rounded up to 9.77 before being reported. This means that he did not in fact break the record, he only tied it. Justin Gatlin is now officially tied with Asafa Powell for the 100m world record.

Hopefully, one or the other can break the record later this year. A great race would be where they both break the record in the same meet.

Justin Gatlin is in the news again. This time, Gatlin set a new world record in the 100 meter dash. Despite how early in the season it is, he ran a 9.76 at the Qatar Grand Prix.

“I am the best of the best because I am the Olympic champion, the world champion and the world record holder now,” Gatlin told reporters. “I thought I would do it and I kept my word. I am a man who likes challenges and my acceleration today was phenomenal.”

Olusoji Fasuban and Shawn Crawford followed Gatlin across the line, 0.08 seconds and 0.32 seconds respectively.

The record has only been improved upon 6 times since 1990 (Tim Montgomery’s record was taken off the books due to his connection with Balco). I fully expect that we will see it drop again later this year. There are some good races coming up, including a showdown between Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin at the Gateshead Grand Prix in just over 4 weeks from now.