Justin Gatlin fired back at Lilly King after she said he shouldn’t be on the US Olympic Team.
When it comes to Olympic Track and Field, it’s hard for anyone to escape from Usain Bolt’s shadow, but if anyone should, it’s Justin Gatlin. After a four-year suspension for doping derailed his career, he turned himself around from NFL bust to winning a bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics, as well as two silver medals at the World Outdoor Championships.
Gatlin has taken a hard road to Rio, and has put his past troubles behind him, but one person who thinks he shouldn’t be at the Olympics is fellow countryman Lilly King.
King earned her 15 minutes of fame at the Olympics when she finger-wagged Yulia Efimova, then proceeded to beat her in the 100m breaststroke. King has a very outspoken stance with regards to doping, but when she doubled down by calling out Justin Gatlin, she proved that she wasn’t willing to put it past her fellow Americans either.
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But rather than lash out at King, Gatlin took a fairly simplistic response when he told reporters (via Sports Illustrated) “I don’t even know who Lilly King is. She does swimming, not track and field, so I’m not worried about that.”
He then shifted the focus away from King by proving he belongs at these Games when he said “I have come back and done what I need to do. I have worked hard just like everybody else, and I get tested like everybody else, and I am back here. I believe in the system.”
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It’s totally fine for King to take a hard-line stance on doping, but she crossed the line by calling out Justin Gatlin. King should realize the amount of adversity that Gatlin has had to overcome in the last decade. While he did make a mistake before, people deserve a second chance. And now it’s up to Gatlin to make good on that second chance by bringing home some medals.