July, 2006: A heatwave ripped through America, but so did one in the track and field world. News flash: Justin Gatlin banned for eight years! Although the ban was cut down by half upon appeal, for track athletes, four years could mean a lifetime. The world was going to move on eventually, only Gatlin here had many demons to fight. He went as far as saying, “I felt I wasn’t worth much – almost to the point I was going to join the military. If I got shot, and died in battle, at least I’d have died for something,” he once revealed to the Guardian.

This was no random thought. Add the one-year suspension from 2001 for testing positive for an amphetamine, that’s a total of five years cut short from what could have been the next Maurice Greene, or better yet, a career that would be best defined as the most potent rival to Usain Bolt. The only reason Gatlin didn’t walk off to the battlefield was his parents. “They would never have forgiven themselves, or the world of track and field, if I’d done something dumb.”

The spotlight soon faded, and Gatlin was numb and started going on regular benders. Almost half a decade of career invested in a sport that he can now barely make any money from, if it wasn’t for his mother’s smart financial decision, things could have looked even grimmer. But 15 years and a whole lot of time and perspective later, Gatlin’s recollection of those years is different.

In the latest edition of Meet The Mitchells podcast, Justin Gatlin kept things real. It was the darkest chapter of his life, yes, but it was also a time when he was able to reactivate his creative gene and explore life beyond the running track. From facing the camera to becoming a serious pass rusher on the gridiron, Gatlin thought it was time to get back to the real world.

In part, it was the best time to use his talents and interest in art and graphic design, in addition to athletic abilities, that helped him get a scholarship to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “I started trying to go into modeling and trying to find other things because you know, like as an athlete, you dive into your craft 100%,” revealed Gatlin. “You don’t give it to anything else, you know.

“So I played a little football. I was in mini camp with the Buccaneers NFL.” This was, all things considered, a pretty serious attempt at switching careers too. “If [his speed] can transfer to football, you have a real threat,” said former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden during the 2007 camp Gatlin attended. As wrong as ‘Justin Gatlin, NFL star’ sounds, Gatlin put nothing less than his all into this sidequest. He trained with Arizona and Houston, with the Bucs finally extending him a formal offer of participation. “This is where I want to be,” he said at the time.

But as we now know, that wasn’t where he wanted to be after all. These attempts to re-adapt to a different life only brought him closer to his true realization. “I was like, man, I love what I love. I love track and field. So then I started working hard coming back, and I realized that the gift and the curse of the situation was that I actually learned so much about life because track was on hold right now.” 

No wonder that Justin Gatlin confessed that once he came back from the ban, he had regained a whole new perspective on track and field. A whole new love for it. Also, he not only came out of the phase as a wiser athlete but also felt this burning urge to run everything. To turn on his beast mode like his life depended on it. And the result? Oh boy, the post-ban Gatlin was a whole new being!

Justin Gatlin’s second shot at track and field

Life seldom gives second chances. Fortunately, Justin Gatlin got one. Though many had thought the ban would be the end of Gatlin’s career, he came back in 2010, not taking a single race for granted now. Straight away with his arrival, he got his feet wet by winning his comeback 100m race at the Bigbank Kuldliiga meet in 10.24 seconds in 2010. But his eyes were on the upcoming London Olympics, knowing what Bolt had done in his absence at Beijing. He tried, but all he could do was get a bronze in the 100m men’s finals, where he was allegedly booed by the crowd.

Yet, his dominance was starting to show. None, we repeat, none of the contemporary track and field athletes could beat him at either 100m or 200m between 2013 and 2015. In fact, the latter was the year when he set or equalled lifetime bests in both the sprint distances and became a serious threat to dethrone Usain Bolt, who had risen in his absence. So yes, Justin Gatlin did get a second chance despite nearly wanting to exit the sport! But did he make good use of it?