Justin Gatlin has gained attention for his recent social media post. In the picture, he posed in the Jamaican jersey, asking if he could get a spot on the relay team.
Taking to his X account [formerly Twitter], the former Olympic champion pronounced in jest that he'd made a bet on joining the Jamaican squad.
As per his post on his X account,
"A bet is a bet! This week's episode of Ready Set Go is hilarious. Can I make the Jamaican 4x100m team? #puma #ForeverFaster #Jamaica"
Fans reacted to this funny post in various ways on the microblogging platform.
"This could be anybody. Let us see the rest of you" wrote one user in disbelief.
"Long time Justin wanna wear wi colours! He just won't admit it." wrote one user cheekily.
"Welcome. Can you be ready for Tokyo?" wrote one user.
"That moment JG realise how epic our colors are and that we are the only country in the world without red, white and blue" opined one user.
"It fit you enuh. A bet is a bet" added another user.
Justin Gatlin smartly promoted his upcoming podcast on his YouTube titled 'Ready Set Go' through this post. Rodney Green, a Bahamian athlete is the co host on this channel, which boasts of more than 45000 subscribers and counting.
Justin Gatlin on the disqualification of the US relay team at the Paris Olympics
Justin Gatlin recently commented on the relay crisis in the US team in his recent podcast, sharing why the men's 4x100m relay team missed out on a medal at both the Paris Olympics and the World U20 Championships.
For the unversed, the men's 4x100m relay team had qualified for the finals at the Paris Olympics in style. However, the baton switch between the second and the third sprinters, i.e. Kenny Bednarek and Kyree King, was far from impressive, and the team was disqualified.
In an earlier video, posted just after the relay finals, Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green analyzed this issue, with Gatlin criticizing the move of chucking out Courtney Lindsey before the finals and allotting the wrong legs of the relay to the American sprinters.
In his words [from 5:25 onwards],
"I can't for the life of me understand why you just didn't do a plug-and-play kind of move. Like you already got the job done in the prelims and you run 37.47, which would've won the finals in the quartet!"
Gatlin also insisted that if the team staff had just maintained Courtney Lindsey on the anchor leg, and kept Kenny Bednarek where he was, the situation wouldn't have been so humiliating for the American team. Since the Athens Olympics 2004, the men's 4x100m relay team has not even touched the podium, let alone win an Olympic gold medal.