LONDON, (Reuters) – To athletics fans around the world wondering just how double-doper Justin Gatlin could be short-listed for the IAAF’s athlete of the year award, the unpalatable answer is, that having served his bans, the governing body had no real choice.
Gatlin’s stellar year of sprinting, when he posted six of the fastest 100 metres times with his 9.77 second run in Brussels last month the fastest-ever by an over-30, made the 32-year-old an automatic inclusion the 10-man list.
“Gatlin, as an eligible athlete who has had a great season is, logically, also eligible for consideration for the Athlete of the Year contest in the absence of any bylaw to prevent that happening,” an IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.
However, fellow nominee Robert Harting felt so strongly about the American former Olympic champion’s inclusion that he asked to be removed from the list.
The German world and Olympic discus champion wants previously-banned athletes to be prevented from being nominated and said he would not be involved with this year’s award so long as Gatlin remained on the list.
