‘I need to beat Gatlin sooner rather than later’
JOHANNESBURG: American swagger in the form of reigning 100m world champion Justin Gatlin was met by its South African equivalent in the form of Anaso Jobodwana ahead of their race in the Liquid Telecom Grand Prix meeting in Pretoria today.
It was all fun and games in the friendly exchanges between South Africa’s top sprinters Jobodwana, Akani Simbine and the American speedster at yesterday’s press conference. There were jokes about Jobodwana getting his revenge on Gatlin, who beat him twice in 2015 including the 200m final at the world championships in Beijing.
“I want to beat him before he retires, he has about two more years before he hangs up his spikes, so I need to beat him sooner rather than later,” Jobodwana said. “I have huge respect for Gatlin, he is not a world champion for nothing, but this is my home and this would be a great opportunity to get a win over him.”
Jobodwana would go into their race over the rarely run 150m with some extra swagger after his American-born wife Taylor Monae gave birth to their first child last week.
“I just try to keep as close as I can for the first 30 metres and then hopefully by the time I get up to my running phase I can chip away at the distance they have gained,” Jobodwana said about his tactics.
“Some days you come out on top and some days you don’t, and with Justin I haven’t come out on top, yet, so tomorrow is another chance for me to try and beat him.
“The jet lag might just pop in on him and I’ll take the win whichever way it comes.”
Gatlin said the US have taken note of SA athletics’ rise on the global stage.
“South African athletes are definitely on the rise, watching these guys not just getting physically better but psychologically the confidence they have gained and you can see they are feeding off each other,” Gatlin said.
“Watching Caster (Semenya) in the 800m, watching Akani in the 100m, watching Wayde (van Niekerk) in the 400m … it is like catching fire and you will be seeing these guys on the podium countless of times, over and over.
“That is all it is, having the confidence in yourself, your countrymen and having the responsibility (of) I am going to do my part.”
Gatlin has been a divisive figure in athletics after he served bans for two doping offences earlier in his career. He again faced questions about his doping past which in parts he faced head-on, while he sidestepped others.
“I believed in my competitors, I believe they are clean but we don’t sit around and have a round-table discussion about doping or anything like that,” Gatlin said.
“We just go forward with the best intentions and everyone is on the up, and training hard and getting ready.
“When we get to the starting line for the Olympics or world championships it is on our mind, it is to be able to accomplish our goals.”
While Jobodwana has some unfinished business with Gatlin, Simbine can say ‘been there, done that’ after he beat the American in the 100m at last year’s Diamond League meeting in Doha.
Simbine will not have a chance to repeat that feat on home soil, and instead will have to contend with a quality local field in his first 100m race of the season today.
He will go up against rising star Clarence Munyai, who will be looking to improve on his 100m personal best of 10.10 seconds he set a fortnight ago on the same track.
Former national record-holder Henricho Bruintjies will also line up in the 100m as he looks to regain the title of SA’s fastest man.