US Olympic Trials 2021: Justin Gatlin's last dance in a career full of ups and downs

The US Olympic Trials 2021 on 20 June could be Justin Gatlin's last dance.

Tall, strong, and muscular - Justin Gatlin is an athletic sculpture made and remade over many years of struggle. The 2017 world champion brought unseemly tools to the test and was caught (failed his drug test and got banned for 8 years).

A hurdler at school, his coaches at Tennessee turned Gatlin into a sprinter. He has been running since, on and off the track. Gatlin’s pursuit is unique for its longevity in a sport better known for brevity.

At 39, if he laces up his spikes in Tokyo, Gatlin will make history. But first, he has to prove that he still belongs on the big stage. The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials take place this weekend in Eugene, Oregon.

Gatlin will race against Trayvon Bromell, the fastest man on the circuit at the moment and fourteen years his junior. Noah Lyles, the 200m world champion, will also be participating. Ronnie Baker, Marvin Bracy, Isiah Young, Fred Kerley and Cravon Gillespie will also be nursing Olympic aspirations.

It will take a sensational sprint, but Gatlin will supplant Stefan Burkart as the oldest Olympian to race in the 100m event if he can manage to qualify. Burkart was 38 years and ten months old when he ran in Atlanta.

The Florida native is already the most senior man ever to win a 100m medal in the Olympics. He was 34 in Rio and eclipsed Linford Christie, who was 32 in 1992 in Barcelona. A spot on the US team to Tokyo will mean everything to Gatlin.

He has broken the 10-second mark, the primary 100m measure, in his first two races this year. In April, he ran 9.98 to win over Andre de Grasse and Lyles in Gainsville, Florida.

These are promising signs for the embattled veteran seeking one last brush with glory at the Tokyo Olympics. But four of his compatriots have run faster this season - Bromell (9.77), Bracy (9.85), Young (9.89), Kerley (9.91) – and the climb in Oregon might be a steep chase.

Ready Steady Tokyo - Athletics Olympic Test Event

Gatlin remains tainted titan

Ever since they found amphetamines in his body in 2001, Gatlin has battled suspicion as much as he deals with the doubts in his mind. He was cleared of those charges when they learned that he was on attention deficit disorder (ADD)-related medication from childhood.

Gatlin ought to have ribbons floating everywhere he sailed after a triumphant 9.85 in the Athens Olympics, beating Maurice Green to the Gold. But then, the glitter did not last long. They found excessive testosterone in his body in 2006. An eight-year ban followed, and many thought they had seen the last of Gatlin.

But the American is a picture of persistence, even if he had to contrive to achieve his dreams. Gatlin turned on his coach Trevor Graham. Turning approver gave Gatlin a shorter sentence and a chance at redemption.

Bronze in London turned to silver in Rio. In Tokyo, Gatlin wants a golden hue to accompany his ride into the sunset, twenty years after a sparkling collegiate career. It would be nothing short of a miracle if Gatlin found the pace in his weary legs. But even if he can race in Tokyo, it will be an impressive feat of endurance in a sport that relies on raw power and brute force.

Most sports have been in the throes of a dope pandemic forever. The disease took hold with the Olympics moving into an era of professionalism and has it under seize. The 100m is a showpiece of human excellence, and the thrilling spectacle is also one of the most widely followed events. The attention brings money, greed and temptation. Gatlin isn’t the first, and he will certainly not be the last.

The Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, the brainchild of the deviant Victor Conte, is a great case study for everything that ails modern athletics. And it's the virus that finds its way into the veins of wide-eyed athletes like Gatlin and his ilk. In the race to victory, the power to keep the curtains intact on the concoctions that drive their limbs is a persistent problem.

Conte, a self-made nutritionist, produced one of those concoctions that eluded testing for some time. Graham ran a stable of top athletes, some of whom were alleged to have drunk Conte’s syrups to enhance their performances.

Gatlin claimed innocence all along, but turning approver to reduce his sentence may have given the game away. He will face judgment for as long as he lives, perhaps rightfully so.

Truth rarely has just one face. And in Gatlin’s version of it, there is the recovery from being dismissed. He overcame days that felt like nights, somehow discovering the will and resolve to run again.

As Gatlin performs, the music accompanying his stride is composed of loud boos and inane remarks about life bans. Cheat, thief, thug and other unspeakable names are the chants that follow him like shadows into the dark.

He may never find redemption. Perhaps men of his ilk do not deserve one. But if he can find some pace in Oregon and then some in Tokyo, he might find the balm needed to heal his wounds. And a stick of pride that might still keep him standing through his old age.

Even in his most nefarious pursuit, there is a single virtue. The will to continue toning his muscles, dulling his memory and straining his limbs despite the many self-made hurdles of his journey make Gatlin an enduring villain. We may never know his true face, but his persistence is there for all of us to see.