Justin Gatlin makes his feelings known on what made him realize his 'gifted' ability

Justin Gatlin became one of the rising track and field stars with his initial college seasons. The retired sprinter recently spoke about his achievements and the special moments that made him realize his true potential.

Gatlin attended four Olympics and won gold in 2004 Athens in the 100m category. At the University of Tennessee, he went on to win six NCAA titles, becoming the first athlete to hold consecutive titles since 1957.

Justin Gatlin participated in 10 world championships and bagged four gold medals and six silvers in them. While appearing on “Run Your Race” podcast with Theo Pinson and AJ Richardson, Gatlin shared his thoughts on many things including his star moments.

While looking back on his career, he reflected on his distinct moments [22:38 onwards]:

“Success is attached to evolution, like yes I had a moment where I realized I was good but I wasn't the best; there was still guys who were better than me. So I had to realize like that moment was good then, but next year and the year after that I had to get better and better and better so I had multiple moments.”

He continued:

“But my first real moment was probably winning state. You know, I literally won the 100 meters and came across the finish line. I went to go to the podium and then the whole crowd is like, I'm like, what are y'all doing? We about to start the race for the 110 hurdles, I also did hurdles. So literally they were lining up, so I had to jump off the podium, run over to the starting line, jump in the race; gun goes off. I win that race too. So then I come back to the podium so that's when I realized, like I was a little more gifted than the average athlete.”

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Justin Gatlin sheds light on his first competitive streak and his nickname that dominated the track

ASS Le Soir - Interview Justin Gatlin - Source: Getty

Justin Gatlin came from Woodham High School and during his University years, he won six titles in the sprint category. Out of those six, two were in the indoor category and the remaining were outdoor. During his junior years, Gatlin joined the national team.

The famed sprinter also shared how he was not part of any “camp” and “summer league” while growing up on the track. The retired sprinter also shared how he refrained from having soda and stuck to juices his mother prepared for him. He shared how he came to be known as the juice man [25:41 onwards]:

“I mean other than the fact of I knew to stay away from like drinking soda, you know what I'm saying. So that's how I mean my mom used to make this thermos and she put like you know the juices and everything inside of it. So I'm carrying this this little thermos around kid the kids making fun of me and s**t. I mean like oh man look he's the juice man. But then I'll go run, I'll beat them and they be like oh juice man got.”

When Justin Gatlin inquired about the national competition, he came across two names -- Casey Combest from Kentucky and Dwight Thomas from Jamaica. For the five-time Olympic medalist, these two sprinters impressed him with their stats.