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run in the finals of that event five Olympics apart.
If he merely gets to the starting line next summer,

pic history.

the sport for four years. Gatlin denies the findings,
but suspicion has followed him ever since. No num-

bronze in the 100 meters in 2012, the silver in 2016,

ON A BRIGHT MORNING IN FEBRUARY, pionships—can change that. In fact, the medals
when we still gathered without fear, the sprinter
Justin Gatlin steered his BMW into a parking lot at ger Gatlin defies the odds and stays competitive,
Montverde Academy, a private preparatory school the more suspect he seems.
west of Orlando. He walked uphill to a rubber-
topped track. Until shelter-in-place restrictions
made it impossible, Gatlin and around a dozen
other runners, all Olympians or Olympic hopefuls,
trained here five days a week under Dennis Mitch- race from here to there. There are no sticks or gloves,
ell, himself a former Olympian. “If they train with
me,” Mitchell said, “they’re at least hopeful.”
Gatlin stretched in the sunshine. He joined a
conversation about shows some of the runners later, one of them reaches the finish line first.
were watching. He was familiar with most, but not
all, of the references. “I’m from another genera- last can be as little as a quarter of a second. Usain Bolt,
tion,” he said sheepishly.
Gatlin, thirty-eight, has a patch of cotton-ball
white hair. Nobody has seen white hair on an Olym- 100 meters in his last Olympics by less than a tenth
pic sprinter, and nobody his age has ever run as of a second. From reaction time and running tech- in a doping scandal at some point in their careers.
fast. He is ranked second in the world at 100 nique to nutrition and sleep habits, each difference In 2001, while at the University of Tennessee,
meters, behind Atlanta native Christian Coleman, between runners has enormous consequences. Gatlin tested positive for amphetamines. He was
who is fourteen years younger. One of those differences is age. Into their twen- banned from competition for two years. He was
After warming up, the sprinters gathered at one ties, sprinters can build power, which increases reinstated after one year, once he proved he’d
end of the track to practice their starts, those first speed. By the time they reach thirty, their bodies taken Adderall since he was a boy.
five or six strides that often determine the outcome have started to decline. Testosterone levels drop. Nevertheless, when elevated levels of testoster-
of a race. From the grass infield, Mitchell shouted Muscle growth slows. Fast-twitch fibers can begin one were detected in his urine in 2006, Gatlin—then
when to get ready and when to go. The runners left to atrophy. In most sports, those changes can be the reigning Olympic champion—was considered a
the blocks and ran hard a third of the way down the mitigated by a mastery of technique. Tom Brady repeat offender. He faced a lifetime ban. He agreed
straightaway, then eased to a stop and walked back. isn’t going to be a starting quarterback at forty-three to cooperate in another case, against his coach,
Even among these elite runners, Gatlin’s grace because he has the strongest arm or the quickest Trevor Graham, which helped reduce his suspen-
stood out. He ran as if he could go on forever. But step. But sprinters can’t train their way to young sion to eight years, and eventually to four.
as he shuffled back to the starting blocks, he looked musculature, or strategize around its absence. Gatlin went to what he described as “that dark
geriatric, as if every joint ached. The transforma- In 1986, the International Olympic Committee place.” He moved back into his parents’ home in
tion was so striking that I asked another sprinter, changed its rules to allow professional athletes to Pensacola, Florida. He gained twenty-five pounds.
Sha’Carri Richardson, if Gatlin was injured. Rich- compete. From then on, winning an Olympic gold He tried out for two NFL teams and made neither.
ardson, who is twenty, laughed. “He just needs a medal came with substantial tangible value, in the He felt his career slipping away. “I know what it
little more time than the rest of us.” form of bigger sponsorships and appearance fees. feels like to wake up and not be able to run,” he
Gatlin and Richardson acted like siblings. She That enabled many top Olympians, track stars said. “You don’t feel whole.”
poked him and jabbered at him. He swatted her included, to make real money. When Bolt retired, in When the ban ended, in 2010, Gatlin was twenty-
away, pretending that it bothered him. She told me 2017, his estimated worth was nearly $100 million. eight and far from fit. But he had more to prove.
later that she considers him a role model. “Before With so much at stake, it was inevitable that com- “I wanted to finish the book,” he said. “To get to
knowing him personally, I thought, It’s a little crazy petitors would seek advantages, licit or otherwise. the end.” He moved to Orlando, where several top
that he’s still running. Doesn’t he want to retire? Now In 1988, at the first summer Olympics held under coaches are based, and started to run again.
that I’m out here, seeing him run, it’s inspiring.” the new rules, the Canadian Ben Johnson ran the
Sprinting is a sport for young legs, at least a 100-meter dash in 9.79 seconds, a world record. T H E E V E N I N G A F T E R P R A C T I C E AT
decade younger than Gatlin’s. Sixteen years ago, Three days later, he was disqualified for a post-race Montverde, at a Caribbean restaurant in Orlando,
at the Athens Olympics, he won the gold medal in urine sample that included traces of a steroid. Of the Gatlin was talking about sprinting technique. At

74 SUMMER 2020