Shadows hang over London 2017 after Justin Gatlin is caught up in doping scandal

Jeers not cheers: Justin Gatlin reacts to the crowd after he beat Usain Bolt in the World Championships in London in August
AFP/Getty Images

It was one of the sporting images of the summer, Justin Gatlin on bended knee with his arms in supplication to Usain Bolt.

Since his first and until then last world title in 2005, Gatlin had perpetually played second fiddle, bridesmaid to the world’s fastest man but, in Bolt’s last individual race, the Jamaican was finally toppled.

For many of those inside the London Stadium on the night in question, it did not sit easily, boos ringing out as Gatlin’s name was announced on the night and again when he received his World Championship gold.

There had been two doping suspensions to his name already and the question was could people believe what they were seeing as Gatlin crossed the line victorious in a time of 9.92 seconds?

IAAF president Seb Coe, who in the past has made it clear he would have preferred a lifetime ban for Gatlin for his past indiscretions, said in this newspaper at the time that “people are welcome to boo”.

He had said: “I don’t want people not to care and, in a funny way, perhaps I would have been slightly concerned if it had been a case of business as usual with all this.”

For Coe now, the greater concern is the negative shadow this casts on London 2017, a championship in which the sport’s governing body were desperate for a positive feel to lift from the gloomy headlines of doping and corruption that have followed the sport since the previous World Championships two years before.

Gatlin, in his defence, has pointed to the fact that he has not failed a test since his third coming in the sport.

After the London gold, he made this point: “I’ve served my time and done community service.

“I’ve talked to kids and I inspire them to walk the right path.

“That’s all I can do. Society does that with people who make mistakes and I hope that track and field does that too.”

In Pictures | World Athletics Championships 2017

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It may well be that Gatlin is clean, there are certainly many within the IAAF and the wider sport who believe he has learned his lessons and is doing things the right way.

But the question mark will now perpetually hang over London 2017 more so than it did before. Is the result legitimate?

Gatlin makes the point that there is no smoking gun pointing towards him, the Daily Telegraph investigation unable to find any wrongdoing in the athlete, who was undoubtedly the initial and high-profile target of their sting.

But the American has not helped himself with his associations.

Primary in that is his coach, Dennis Mitchell, who tested positive for testosterone during his own sprint career, blaming it on too much beer and sex the night before for the reading.

It could be argued Gatlin was being a dope in all this — and not in a drug-taking sense — and he has been quick to disassociate himself with Mitchell, sacking him on the spot. But what was he doing working with a coach, who had admitted in the trial of another disgraced coach, Trevor Graham, to taking human growth hormone?

The good versus bad playbook of Bolt v Gatlin has not always sat easily, the latter lumbered with the wider ills of the sport by the public.

But immaterial of how the investigation runs its course courtesy of the Athletics Integrity Unit, the question marks will remain over what was witnessed in London and whether the tests can be believed.

Wagner in The Telegraph allegations suggests not —that it’s possible to beat the testers.

One of the other star turns of London, Wayde van Niekerk put it succinctly on Twitter this morning: “Breaks my heart reading ‘it’s easy to cheat a doping test’, knowing I stand for clean and fair sports.”

Seeing — it was accepted in this sport a long time ago — is not always believing.

Big names caught up in the controversy

Robert Wagner

A colourful figure in the sport, Wagner has worked with hundreds of athletes globally dating back to the 1980s, including two of Britain’s biggest names in athletics history, Colin Jackson and Dame Kelly Holmes.

His athletics roster over the past three decades has included middle-distance runner Jolanda Ceplak, who was subsequently banned years after their association. Holmes was very publicly suspicious of the Slovenian when Wagner acted for the pair of them.

Austrian Wagner is currently an IAAF-accredited manager and has recently worked with British duo Jack Green and Jazmin Sawyers.

Dennis Mitchell

AFP/Getty Images

The 51-year-old won Olympic bronze behind Linford Christie at the 1992 Olympic Games and was an Olympic 4x100m relay gold medallist at those same Games.

He was twice a world champion in the relay but was banned from the sport in 1998 after a testing positive for testosterone.

His defence has gone down in doping folklore that he had drunk “five bottles of beer and had sex with his wife at least four times… it was her birthday, the lady deserved a treat”.

He was USA Track and Field’s head sprint relay coach for two years until January and was coaching Gatlin until he was sacked today.

Justin Gatlin

AFP/Getty Images

The American was crowned world champion in the summer at London 2017 for the first time since the 2005 Games (below), finally ending Usain Bolt’s dominance in sprinting.

It added to an Olympic gold back in 2004 and a litany of silver and bronze medals at major championships, mostly playing second fiddle to the Jamaican.

But his is a career shrouded in controversy, amid two doping bans: the first in 2001 for amphetamines, the second in 2006 for testosterone.

He has denied any wrongdoing. The first ban was cut because he was taking medication for attention deficit disorder and he blamed the second failed test on sabotage.

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