Gatlin takes bronze as U.S. sweeps 200

By Steve Rivera

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Hold the double, history will have to wait.

Justin Gatlin, trying to duplicate Carl Lewis' 1984 feat of gold in the 100 and 200 meter runs, fell short in his quest of becoming only the second sprinter in 20 years and seventh all-time to accomplish it.

But he was fine with his performance, finishing third at 20.03 seconds, well behind winner and training partner Shawn Crawford's personal best 19.79 at Olympic Stadium.

``I'm not disappointed, not at all,'' Gatlin said. "I'm very content with my medal. I'm (22 years old) and at the Olympics. What more could you ask for? There's another day and another gold medal (possibility) coming up. And hopefully I can get a gold. That's all I ask for and I have a lot of years ahead of me.''

Gatlin, a Woodham (Fla.) High graduate, will be part of the U.S. 4x100 meter relay. Preliminaries begin Friday, finals are Saturday.

To this point - a gold in the 100-meter and the bronze in the 200 - it's been an exhausting week for Gatlin, who said eight races eventually took its toll. He said his form was ``breaking down coming off the turn'' as it appeared he had a slight lead, but down the stretch he was overtaken by both Crawford and U.S. teammate Bernard Williams, who finished second at 20.01.

``I really trained for this, but the body breaks down,'' Gatlin said. ``I leave here every day at 1 o'clock (in the morning). And we're waking up at 10. It takes a lot on the body. I'm happy the individuals are over and we all have a medal.''

He's also happy that the United States got the sweep.

``We've been talking about that for weeks,'' Gatlin said.

Crawford added that it was good to see the training partners win a gold in the 100 and the 200.

``We've been working hard all year so when he came home with the gold in the 100 and I'm coming home in the 200, it shows we are the top sprinters in the world,'' Crawford said.

The race was delayed for about five minutes, after crowd noise held up one start and there was a false start. The crowd yelled ``Hellas, Hellas, Hellas'' (Greece, Greece, Greece) and ``Kederis, Kederis, Kederis'' in honor of their Greek sprint champion Kostas Kederis, who withdrew from the Olympics after failing to show for a drug test.

Gatlin said he and Crawford were warned that something like that would happen. But they were not distracted.

``We trained our whole life for the Olympics and wished them no hardship or bad luck on any athlete,'' said Gatlin. ``We understand the Greeks wanted their hometown favorite there, but we're here to put on a show for them. If the race hadn't been held up it may have been more spectacular than what it was.''