Greene to Gatlin: forget it!

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Forget it, Greene tells Gatlin

Kayon Raynor

Saturday, January 16, 2010

“PERSONALLY, No!”

That was the retort of former Olympic and World 100m champion American Maurice Greene when quizzed if his compatriot Justin Gatlin can beat the world’s current top three sprinters – Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, as well as Tyson Gay of the USA.

“That’s just what I believe. He’s been out for way too long,” Greene reasoned.

Gatlin, a former world and Olympic 100m gold medallist, becomes eligible to compete in July after serving a four-year ban from athletics for testing positive for a banned substance in 2006.

“Four years is a long time not to compete… he has a tremendous mountain up against him and the times that these guys are running now, he wasn’t running these times when he was there and he hasn’t been competing, so personally, I say, ‘what’s the point’?” added Greene, who is currently in Jamaica to attend tomorrow’s Douglas Forrest Invitational Meet at the National Stadium.

Gatlin, who turned 28 next month, recently said he is targetting the trio when he returns to the track in July.

“I could beat them before. I don’t see why I can’t run with them now,” Gatlin told Reuters after a training session in Naples, Florida.

“Times don’t scare me,” Gatlin added.

However Greene, who racked up 52 legal sub-10-second 100m clockings during his career, says Gatlin should rethink his plans to return to competitive track and field.

“You should just live your glory days and just sit back and watch, like me. Not to say anything bad because anything is possible, but I just don’t believe it,” added Greene, who also won gold in the 200m and over 60m indoors.

Last Friday Bolt, the current 100m and 200m world record holder with 9.58 and 19.19 seconds, respectively, welcomed Gatlin’s challenge, but warned that the American could find the going tougher.

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Gatlin is delusional.

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call him what you like but hes still young and can still make $$$. yes he has a mountain to climb but in sport you just never know!!

JUSTIN GO FOR IT!

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i think its good that Gatlin has that attitude. you can’t expect to make a comeback by saying you hope you run fast but know you can’t beat x, y, and z.
although i do agree he can’t beat those 3 guys.

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If is goal is maximum cash I think he should also think about the hurdles.

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Isn’t Greene the guy who came out wagging his tongue, ran 10.8, then disappeared?

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EXACTLY!!! another micheal johnson.great at BSing about other people who are trying and guys i think with time gatlin will be there if things go right

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Later during his career Greene himself was talking about fine wines and getting better with age, although there were faster sprinters at that time already. :slight_smile: 28 is still quite young for a sprinter. And an athete who’s been running most of his life, why not still give it a shot and see what’s gonna happen? I doubt if he can challenge Bolt but sub-10 would be impressive enough after a long break. It would be extremely interesting to see him focusing on the 110H.

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No limits…Go Gatlin. Don’t worry about the pessamists!