EUGENE, Ore. — Justin Gatlin had a bounce in his step as he walked through the Hilton downtown, spotting an old friend and exchanging hugs.
“You gotta see my little man,” Gatlin said with a smile. “He’s two now.”
Gatlin is at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials for the first time since 2004, and he’s just as confident now as he was then. Gatlin, who won gold at the Athens Games, watched the 2008 trials on television, banned from the sport for using performance-enhancing drugs. Now 30 years old, a father, and most likely on the backside of his career, he’s as hopeful as ever.
“This is my first time being really excited — almost kid-like — in a very long time,” Gatlin said Thursday. “It feels good to be back at the Olympic trials. I love the pressure.
“I’m a little older, but also, I think, a little wiser, a little grittier and ready to run.”
Though the field of American sprinters is competitive, featuring Walter Dix and Tyson Gay among others, Gatlin’s recent performances have raised expectations for him here. He has posted the fastest 100-meter time of any American this year.
“Justin is a very emotional runner,” said Dennis Mitchell, his coach. “His emotions are on a high right now. When his emotions are that high, there’s nothing that he thinks he cannot achieve.”
Gatlin will compete this weekend in the 100 meters, the event that brought him fame and gold in Athens nearly eight years ago. Returning to the Olympic stage would be the culmination of a journey that has been all peaks and valleys the past eight years — with very little in between.
“It wasn’t just one journey for me to come back,” he said. “It was more of a parallel journey of two.”
Gatlin served out his four-year suspension and returned to competition in August 2010. He had to return to form physically, he explained, and also mentally build up his confidence. Neither was easy.
If there’s any benefit to be derived from a four-year break, Gatlin says, it’s the appreciation he has today. Until his suspension, Gatlin had never considered any alternative to running.
“My life revolved around track and field ever since I was in high school,” he said.
He was a two-time state champion sprinter in Florida and received a full scholarship to the University of Tennessee, where he competed for two years before turning pro.
“I didn’t have any time to really grow as a person,” he said, “as Justin Gatlin.”
Banned from the track — Gatlin maintained that he never knowingly used an illegal substance — the sprinter said he had to consider how he would pay bills, what he would do with his time. He tried out with NFL teams in 2006, ’07 and ’08 but never signed a contract. He appeared in the reality sports program “Pros vs. Joes.” He served as a volunteer coach for his former high school track team in Pensacola, Fla.
Mostly, he waited to be reinstated.
His comeback has seen a string of improved times. He finished second to Dix at the 2011 U.S. Championships, posting a time of 9.95 seconds. He failed to reach the finals at the world championships, and his times still lagged well behind his best performances.
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