Gatlin is gunning professionally for sprint supremacy

To say that 2002 was an emotional roller coaster ride for US sprinter Justin Gatlin, would be a dramatic understatement. From dominating early season performances, the likes of which were almost unprecedented at the collegiate level, to a short-lived but highly publicized doping suspension, the 20 year-old American sprint phenomenon has experienced more in a few short months, than any athlete would want to be subjected to in an entire career.

To listen to the engaging and personable young sprinter now, just three months after he attracted domestic headlines once again with his decision to pursue the sport professionally, one couldn't help but be left with the impression that his roller coaster ride is a memory of the distant past.

"Everything's going great," he said, speaking from his training base in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he's been living since September. "I couldn't be more happy."

Acknowledging that his decision to leave the University of Tennessee was a difficult one on a personal level, Gatlin said his future aspirations in the sport made the choice quite easy.

"It's all about bettering myself," he said frankly. "It's all about getting to that next level. And I know what I have to do to get to that next level. And that's why I'm here in Raleigh right now."

The Florida native was the second American college standout this year to announce his intention to pursue the sport professionally. However, unlike miler Alan Webb, who is perhaps better-known domestically, Gatlin is poised to make an immediate impact at the international level.

"My plan is just to surprise a lot of people," he said. "My training is going very well and I plan on not stopping -- I plan on getting better and better."

From the outset of his brief collegiate career, Gatlin was widely regarded as the most exciting young speedster to emerge from the traditionally strong American sprint scene in years -signalling to many that his early departure to the professional ranks was all but inevitable.

In 2001, he ended his freshman year with four NCAA titles - the 60m and 200m indoors, and the 100m and 200m outdoors.  For good measure, he followed up with wins in the 100m, 200m and 110m hurdles at the US Junior Championships, becoming the first male to ever win three titles in a single championship.

He opened 2002 with a successful defence of his indoor titles, and continued his dominance outdoors, quickly lowering his PBs to 10.05 and 20.06 in April. 

However, just days after he completed one of the finest single day displays in collegiate athletics history (a 10.11/19.86 double win at May's Southeast Conference Championships, along with a second placed finish in the 110m hurdles in 13.41, and a leg in the victorious 4x100 relay) came the announcement that Gatlin had tested positive for amphetamine during the 2001 US Junior Championships, and he was given a two-year suspension.

The banned substance was a prescribed medication Gatlin had been taking for several years to treat Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). He stopped using the medication a few days prior to the competition, but trace amounts still turned up in his test.

The ban stripped him of his 2001 national junior titles, however, since the medication is not on the NCAA's banned list, Gatlin was provided the opportunity to defend his outdoor crowns, which he did with ease, becoming the first man to repeat as double sprint champion since Bobby Morrow accomplished the feat in 1957. He finished the year undefeated both indoors and out.

Gatlin harboured no resentment for the suspension.

"I knew the right thing to do was accept the suspension," he said in May. "I just broke the rules, which were the rules."

He's even put a positive spin on the suspension, using it as a motivating force.

"It motivated me to do better this year," he admits. "A lot of people can't back from something like that. It hurts them mentally and physically. I want to prove to everyone that I'm a strong person and that I have what it takes to be one of the best in the world."

In early July, the IAAF Council granted Gatlin an early reinstatement, citing that he had a genuine medical explanation for his positive test, but stressed that he had indeed committed a doping offence and issued a warning that any repetition of his positive result would result in a life ban.

Two months later came the announcement that he had signed a sponsorship deal with Nike, and of his subsequent move to Raleigh to train under the tutelage of Trevor Graham.

That relationship too, provided more headline-grabbing distractions in recent days with the departure of Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery from the Graham camp, leaving Gatlin as the training group's star pupil.

"It's been a little rough for us," he said of the world's fastest couple' s exit from Raleigh, adding that the decision came as a surprise. "I guess they want to do their own thing. I guess they had little disagreements with coach, and they solved it the best way they could solve it."

Though tabbed by some as stronger in the longer sprint, Gatlin said he is focusing on both the 100m and 200m, with a clear aim to contesting them in August's World Championships in Paris.

But at the moment, more important than even a berth on the 2004 Olympic team, is his professional debut at the Millrose Games on February 2, where he is entered in the 60m dash.

"As of right now, the 60 [is his focus]. I feel that I'm learning more about the short dash. The long dash (200m), I can leave that for outdoors, prepare for that outdoors."

His tentative schedule for the indoor season, calls for four races over 60 metres, including the US Indoor Championships. "The plan right now is to dominate indoor and medal at world championships indoors."

He said his favourite event varies with how he feels on a given day. "Right now, I'm practicing more for the 100, but I love the 200. I know I'm more mature in the 200 than I am in the 100."

But he's not discounting other events from a career he hopes will span another 15 years. "[The 400] is still in the back of my mind right now," he said. "I feel that whatever I put my mind to, I can do it. I would like to be on a 4x400 team one day in my career. Maybe a couple of times. Same in the 4x100m. And still dabble in the hurdles if I can. But this is a profession where you've got to take one step at a time orr you get swallowed up."

The biggest challenge he foresees on the pro-circuit is the psychological battles among competitors, an aspect that only experience can overcome.

"It's a lot more mental out there than it is college," he said. "On the college level it's a lot more physical. But people out there are mentally trying to get in your head in the professional world, trying to weaken you on the track and off the track. You have to get prepared both physically and mentally. Without either one you're going to lose."

While he may have left collegiate competition behind, he is not doing the same with his college education. He will resume his studies full-time in January as a junior at Raleigh's St. Augustine's College, pursuing a degree in communications. 

"I want to be able to do something with commentary - in front of the TV - something that will help me with ads, and commercials, both after and during my career."

An avid fan of all track & field events, Gatlin is very aware of the need to increase athletics' marketability in the crowded world of professional sports, and plans to do his part.

"My goal is to take track to a new level," he said. "I want to be known as that track athlete who is doing movies, modelling, acting."

“Those things will come,” Gatlin said, but his first order of business is clear. "Right now, I'm focusing on getting out there and putting my name out in the track & field world first, then worry about what I have to do to market it."

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF