09 August,2017 09:41 AM IST | London | AFP
Justin Gatlin's agent slams Lord Sebastian Coe and the IAAF's treatment to controversial 100m world champ, says it is inhumane and not in true spirit
USA's Justin Gatlin after winning the menu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s 100m final during the IAAF Athletics World Championships in London on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
USA's Justin Gatlin after winning the men's 100m final during the IAAF Athletics World Championships in London on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
Athletics chief Sebastian Coe and the IAAF's treatment of controversial 100 metres world champion Justin Gatlin is 'inhumane' and 'unsportsmanlike', the athlete's agent told the BBC in a blistering attack.
British athletics legend Coe - a two-time 1500m Olympic champion - had told the BBC on Sunday two-time drugs cheat Gatlin's victory in the sport's most high profile event in London, which was watched by over eight million viewers in Britain, was not the 'perfect script'.
Gatlin, 35, had been loudly booed throughout the 100m rounds and the verbal abuse was ratcheted up a few notches when he won the final, denying Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt a 12th world title in his last individual final. Coe felt 'queasy' about dopers returning and winning titles - remarked he wasn't very excited about the prospect of placing the gold medal around Gatlin's neck.
Sebastien Coe
However, Gatlin's agent Renaldo Nehemiah, a former 110m hurdles world record holder, was scathing about Coe's remarks. "I take offence to, with all respect, Lord Coe. I don't condone doping but Justin Gatlin is not the poster child for it. He's done his time, he plays by the rules, the IAAF reinstated him. They said if you come back we should accept that. So, to put a narrative out that it's just Justin Gatlin and he's the bad guy, it's really not fair.
"It's inhumane. It's unsportsmanlike," he told the BBC. Nehemiah, who won the 1984 Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers, said Coe and the IAAF should be more gracious and accept their rules allowed athletes like Gatlin to get a chance at redeeming themselves. "Lord Coe's a part of the IAAF who set the rules, who set out the punishments, and when you serve the punishment you are supposed to be reinstated, which these athletes who have offended and abused some of these rules have, and if you don't want them in you should change the rules," said Nehemiah.
"You don't allow them in and then still condemn them," he said. Coe has always been a hardliner on doping, believing second time offenders should have life bans. That view has fallen foul of the legal system when athletes have gone to court to such challenge punishments.
