Justin Gatlin stunned Usain Bolt in the 100 metres final at the world championships on Saturday, tearing up the fairytale script that the world hoped for the Jamaican. With the Jamaican having announced that he would be hanging up his trailblazing boots soon, London 2017 was supposed to be another feather in his glittering, gold cap, bowing out in a blaze of glory and enjoying the perfect sending off.
Except... that it turned out to be a frustrating evening for the nine-time Olympic gold medallist.
Bolt was left ruing a disastrous start as American Justin Gatlin got the finish line.
The narrative soon turned to Gatlin’s tainted past. The 35-year-old has tested positive twice in the past. After the win, the capacity crowd at London greeted Gatlin with a chorus of boos. Bolt was left rung his start. He said: “Normally it gets better during the rounds, but it didn’t come together. And that is what killed me. I felt it was there.”
However, Gatlin shrugged off the boos to give a fitting tribute to the sprint legend, even dropping to his knees to bow to his rival. Gatlin said Bolt had told him “You don’t deserve all these boos.” Some folk on Twitter, though, were not that forgiving. There was also a comparison to cricket icon Sir Don Bradman scoring a duck in his final outing.
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