Justin Gatlin

Justin Gatlin is an American sprinter born on 10th February 1982. He hails from Clermont city of Florida in the USA. Gatlin specializes and represents America internationally in 100m and 200m.

Background

Justin Gatlin was born to Willie Gatlin and Jeanette Gatlin. He attended Woodham High School. While in high school, he was a hurdler and helped his team to win the state championship.

Gatlin's athletic talent was spotted by coaches from the University of Tennessee, Vince Anderson and Bill Webb, and offered him a scholarship to join the university in Knoxville. At the university, the coaches trained him to become a sprinter instead of being a hurdler. Under the tutelage of Vince Anderson, Gatlin’s athletic career as a sprinter began to take off.

Justin Gatlin represented the University of Tennessee in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament and bagged six consecutive NCAA titles in 100m and 200m events.

Rise to Glory

Justin Gatlin’s career breakthrough as a professional athlete came in 2003 when he won the national title in 60m at the US Indoor Track and Field Championships. That year, he was due to compete at the US National Championships but pulled out of the tournament due to a hamstring strain. In August, he breached 10.00 seconds in 100m for the first time at the Weltklasse Zurich.

In 2005, Gatlin bagged his first national title in 100m and 200m events at the US National Championships in Carson, Los Angeles. The following year, in May, he equalled Asafa Powell’s then 100m world record of 9.77s and won the Gold medal in Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix.

After serving a 4 years ban, Gatlin returned to athletics and won his first title in 100m by clocking 10.24s after a long gap in Rakvere, Estonia in 2010. A year later, at the US Track and Field Championships, he lost a Gold medal to Walter Dix by 0.01 milliseconds, recording 9.95s.

In May 2015, Gatlin became the fifth-fastest 100m runner in the world after he recorded his personal best of 9.74s at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix. In 2016, he became the oldest American sprinter to qualify for the Olympics in 100m and 200m events.

Major Achievements

Justin Gatlin got his international career break in 2003 when he won the Gold medal in 60m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships. In 2004, Gatlin made his Olympics debut at the Athens Olympics, where he made it to podium finish thrice with a Gold in 100m, a Silver in 4x100 relay, and a Bronze in 200m.

In 2005, Justin Gatlin was crowned as World Champion in 100m and 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland. He went on to claim the world title in 100m (2017) and 4x100m relay (2019), and also bagged six Silver medals – three in 100m (2013, 2015, and 2019), one in 200m (2015), and two in 4x100 relay team (2013 and 2017) at the prestigious athletics championships.

In 2012, Gatlin claimed his second world indoor title in 60m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships. That year, in August, he won the Bronze medal in 100m by clocking 9.75s, just 0.04s behind Silver-medalist Yohan Blake at the London Olympics. Gatlin and his American relay team were crowned as the world relay champion in 4x100m twice on the trot in 2015 and 2017 at the World Athletics Relay.

In 2016, At the Rio Olympics, Gatlin won the Silver medal in 100m with a timing of 9.89s, 0.02 milliseconds ahead of Bronze-medalist Andre De Grasse of Canada. In the 200m event, he finished 3rd in the semi-final by clocking 20.13s and thus didn’t qualify for the final.

Justin Gatlin will be competing in his 4th and final Olympics of his career at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and will look to end on a high in 100m and 200m events.