Bolt vs. Gatlin: Believe what you want in showdown
RIO DE JANEIRO — The roar of the crowd told you everything you needed to know. The roar of fame. Of speed. Of a full track stadium. The roar of the Olympics. Saturday was transition day — the day when swimming ends and track gets seriously going. The day that Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky give way to Elaine Thompson and Usain Bolt.
The day that many believe the Olympics really begin.
It felt a little like that when Bolt came out for his early afternoon heat in the 100 meters. The ovation from the audience signaled that the single biggest Olympic name of our era had arrived. The fastest man alive.
Bolt smiled. Nodded his head. Tapped the word “Jamaica” on his chest. Put a finger to his lips to quiet the crowd.
And then cruised to an easy qualifying time of 10.07 seconds, the fourth fastest of the day.
That’s a good sign for these Games. Since Bolt withdrew from the Jamaican Olympic Trials with a hamstring injury, there has been concern over his health and status for Rio.
“It wasn’t the best start,” Bolt said. “I felt kind of slow. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll come out and feel better, much smoother.”
Running two lanes over, was Jahvid Best, representing Saint Lucia, his father’s country. Best played two years with the Detroit Lions before having to retire due to concussions. He now trains in Arizona with former Olympic champion Maurice Greene and plans to continue to pursue track.
“It was very similar to a ‘Monday Night Football’ game or the Super Bowl,” Best said of running alongside Bolt. “The energy is just crazy out there.
“Everyone was cheering. I just pretended they were cheering for me.”
They weren’t (Best finished 54th overall, .32 behind Bolt). Bolt — owner of the world record in the 100 and the 200 — is the biggest name at the track. The men’s 100 meters is the biggest glamor event. Bolt is probably the local fans’ favorite non-Bra- zilian athlete here — his face is everywhere.
Just as it was in London. And in Beijing, where he captured the world’s attention.
But the fastest time in Saturday’s heats — 10.01 — belonged to American Justin Gatlin.
And that brings us to the other part of the Olympics that hits full competition level this weekend: doping conspiracies.
While conspiracies, rumors and suspicions exist at the pool and in other sports, they fully blossom at the track.
On Saturday, the track federation banned the lone remaining Russian — long jumper Darya Klishina — from participating and she immediately filed an appeal. Doping has been the conversation prior to and during the Rio Olympics and it seems that now everyone feels free to talk about it and point fingers.
Gatlin’s mere presence is controversial. He has been banned twice from the sport, once for a ritalin-like substance in 2001 when he was 19, and then from 2006 to 2010 for a testosterone substance. But he has been reinstated and is here, the oldest sprinter to make the U.S. team at age 34.
Even one of this teammates, 19-year-old swimmer Lily King, said Gatlin shouldn’t be here.
“I don’t know who Lily King is,” Gatlin said Saturday. “She does swimming, not track and field. … I’ve come back and done what I need to do. I work hard just like anyone else. I get tested like everybody else. I’m back here. I believe in the system, and I hope everyone else believes in the system, too.”
Believe. That’s what we’re asked to do a lot at the Olympics.
Sunday night’s showdown between Bolt and Gatlin will be billed as Clean vs. Doper. Good vs. Evil.
If you want to believe that, go right ahead, but anyone who has been around this sport (all sports?) long enough knows that such black-and-white story lines are simplistic. Never failing a test doesn’t mean an athlete is clean. Proclaiming oneself clean doesn’t mean you are. Having cheated once doesn’t mean you’re cheating now.
We all want the show, the speed, the roar. Not the nasty mess behind it. The fastest man in the world will be determined on Sunday night and you are free to believe whatever you want.