Last night, we witnessed the great Usain Bolt compete in his final individual race at international level as he prepares for retirement.
Bolt has won it all. Eight Olympic Gold Medals (would have been nine if it wasn't for Nesta Carter failing a drugs test), twelve titles on the international stage and countless fans around the world. He isn't just the best athlete at what he does, he's an entertainer. We don't just watch for his lightening quick times, but for his dancing and off track antics before and after a race.
Last night was supposed to be a heroes send off in London for the great man. No matter what happened, his legacy was cemented. However, it may have been overshadowed by what occurred at the London Stadium.
Bolt finished 3rd, picking up a bronze medal behind rising American star Christian Coleman and behind everyone's favourite pantomime villain, Justin Gatlin.
Kelly Sotherton, former British heptathlete, was talking to 5Live Sport when she said that she believed Bolt's legendary status was confirmed unless he "loses to Gatlin". I don't fully agree with this, but I do believe a bit of the shine has been taken off Bolt's last race as a result of this.
If you aren't aware, Justin Gatlin has twice (yes TWICE) been caught and banned for the use of performance enhancing drugs. He received a year long ban, originally two years, for the use of Adderall, a drug used to combat attention deficit disorder. This could be deemed as harsh as it was a drug he had been taking since the age of ten - "last time I checked, someone who takes medication for a disorder is not a doper."
However, in 2006, Gatlin was handed a massive eight-year ban, reduced to four, for failing a test on steroid testosterone. He continued to deny this, claimed it was from cream used by the physio on his thighs. A lame excuse if ever I heard one.
As I stated before, I think Gatlin's tainted history and his latest victory has completely overshadowed what should have been Bolt's night. I haven't read much over the last day about Bolt's legacy, more about Gatlin and what he stands for.
Gatlin isn't the only athlete at these championships to have been caught doping. Many others, listed to the right, have been banned and are now back competing. So why is Gatlin the main focus for the crowds disapproval towards doping.
I personally believe that if you have been caught on such a monumental level, you should receive a life-time ban. By taking a performance enhancing drug, you are looking to gain an unfair advantage over your competitors. This could not only result in an unjust win for the athlete, but possible sponsor drops, team drops and funding cuts to other 'clean' athletes that they compete against.
Gatlin said in an interview with Dan Roan from the BBC after the win that he hadn't been booed on his return until last year. He seemed perplexed, but the reason is obvious, he started to become relevant again. No one wants to see a doper come back and win, so the crowds were happy enough to see him losing on his return. Now that he has started winning, and winning nearly the biggest prize in all athletics, crowds are turning against a villain who appears to be gaining all he wanted, despite his clear intentions to bring the sport into disrepute.
The boos aren't directed at just Gatlin, but doping in sport as a whole. He's just the poster boy for it. And if anything, I think he enjoys it. He loves playing the role of the evil prince coming in to take away from our leading man and gallant hero, played here by Usain Bolt. People boo him, but if anything it pushes him. Prove people wrong.Sport is supposed to be pure. Engage it's viewers as we marvel at what the human body can achieve. It can run 100m in under 10 seconds. It can jump a bar nearly 2 metres high. It can basically sprint 10,000m in 27 minutes. People like Gatlin have made us all watch sport and think, is that person on drugs? The world's greatest competitors, Bolt included, get drawn into the debate. He runs that quick? He must be on drugs? She jumps that high? She must be on drugs.
The poor clean athletes who go out there and compete honestly must feel so lost when they look around them and see dopers looking to cheat their way to the top, rather than simply working hard.
It's for these reasons I believe someone like Gatlin should have been banned. Kick out the dopers and try and make sport clean, no matter how impossible a feat that may be. The sports scientists will always be three steps ahead of the anti-dopers. And as soon as they find a way of combating one performance drug, another three are on the market with no feasible way of testing for them. I'm sure he is a perfectly nice guy, Bolt openly talks about Gatlin and believes he doesn't deserve the boos, but his past is what stands out. Nothing will make people forget that.
Lord Seb Coe, President of the IAAF, has already said that this "wasn't the perfect script" and ideally, athletes who dope like Gatlin will receive "life-time bans" in the future.
But let's finish on a positive note and give the limelight back to the man who deserves it. Usain Bolt. Annoyingly, this whole blog was originally meant to be about him, but I have also fallen into the trap of talking about the negatives of the races results.Bolt is up there with the greatest athletes in sporting history. Muhammad Ali. Roger Federer. Jesse Owens. Pele. Michael Phelps. Usain Bolt comfortably can place himself among those. The world of sport, not just athletics, will lose a legend. I know I'll miss him.
A. Weavers
You can read my other blogs at ScriptEye and I Can't Write Words here.
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