By Michael Johnson
. . . More controversy was thrown up by the men’s 100m heats, which always promise excitement at the US trials with so much talent on show. The 2004 Olympic gold medallist, Justin Gatlin was, of course, the favourite.
New rules place the entire field of athletes under caution if any runner in the field makes a false start. After a false start by an athlete in Gatlin’s heat, Gatlin then false started, disqualifying himself from the competition and, as a result, preventing him from qualifying for the 100m at the World Championships in Helsinki in August. However, after a protest by Gatlin he was reinstated.
USA Track and Field’s official comment was that they had determined that the athlete next to Gatlin had flinched, thereby inducing Gatlin to move. But if Gatlin was therefore wrongly disqualified, why wasn’t the athlete who supposedly flinched then thrown out?
And if the athlete flinched enough to pull Gatlin off the line, why didn’t the movement register on the computer?
Ultimately Gatlin won the final in impressive fashion, running 10.08sec into a 2.3m per second headwind. But the problem I have with the whole scenario is not so much that Gatlin was reinstated, but the reason that was given - which now opens up a situation where any person who is charged with a false start can cry that someone flinched and caused them to move.
I would have been more willing to accept a decision by USATF to reinstate Gatlin simply because he was the Olympic champion and it was therefore in the best interests of the sport that he should be allowed to qualify for the World -Championships.
Fortunately, there was other excitement at the championships that was of a more positive nature. My only two clients as an agent, Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner and his training partner, Darold Williamson, who had previously run the fastest time in the world this year, finished first and second in the 400m, with Wariner running 44.20sec. That time was even more impressive given that he almost fell over coming out of the blocks and executed his race poorly. He is clearly ready to run under 44sec.
Veteran Allen Johnson won the 110m hurdles with the fastest time in the world at 12.99sec. And one of the other bright young stars in the sport, Sanya Richards, ran impressively in the women’s 400m with 49.28sec. Richards has joined Wariner and Williamson to be coached by my former coach, Clyde Hart, and it has obviously paid off for her.
The American team are young and full of talent and I expect they will be even stronger than last year in Athens, where a mix of young and experienced talent topped the medal table.
This year the younger generation have just about completely taken over and they should be even more impressive than last year.
