Earlier today, former Vol track star Christian Coleman beat Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt in a semifinal at an IAAF World Championship. That was Bolt’s first loss in a race since 2013.
Then, not even two hours after that, Bolt suffered another loss. And it was at the hands of another former Vol.
Former Vol track athlete Justin Gatlin appeared out of nowhere near the end of the 100-meter final at the IAAF World Championship in London to defeat both Bolt and Coleman to win the world title. Gatlin finished the sprint in 9.92 seconds, while Coleman finished second with a time of 9.94 seconds and Bolt placed third with a time of 9.95 seconds.
Usain Bolt loses to Justin Gatlin in his final 100m race pic.twitter.com/qyCu055sgv
— MyBookie (@betmybookie) August 5, 2017
For Bolt, this race marked the final professional individual sprint the Jamaican speedster will ever compete in. And his swan song was spoiled by a pair of former Vols.
Gatlin and Bolt are both Olympic gold medalists. Gatlin won a gold medal in the 100-meter in the 2004 Olympics, and Bolt owns eight Olympic gold medals in his storied career. Gatlin also has the unfortunate distinction of being a “doper” for testing positive for amphetamines in 2001 (he appealed and was reinstated early) and for testing positive for an illegal performance enhancing substance in 2006. The second positive test resulted in a four-year ban from track-and-field events.
Since then, however, Gatlin has remained clean. Since his return to track-and-field events in 2010, he’s won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, and gold in at least six world championships, counting his most recent one in London today.
