Usain Bolt's loss to Justin Gatlin 'very awkward' for athletics
Roger Black, who was cheated out of gold in 1997, says the result was "the one thing the sport didn't want".
Sunday 6 August 2017 20:40, UK
Olympic silver medallist Roger Black has described Usain Bolt losing his final 100m race to convicted drugs cheat Justin Gatlin as "very awkward" for athletics.
The script was scrapped when Gatlin beat the legendary Jamaican to win gold at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday night.
A packed crowd at the London Stadium booed Gatlin before the race, but were quietened when he crossed the line in 9.92 seconds.
However, the American was jeered again when he collected his medal on Sunday evening.
Black told Sky News there was a strong sense of "disappointment, disillusion, and really disbelief by the crowd" and that it was a "difficult, awkward moment" for the sport.
"The one thing the sport didn't want was Justin Gatlin, a convicted drugs cheat, twice in the sport, to end Usain Bolt's career by beating him," said Black, who won fifteen medals for Great Britain during his athletics career.
"In many ways Usain Bolt has carried the sport over the last few years throughout the whole drug issue that's been going on.
"This won't really affect Usain Bolt, he's still the greatest of all time.
"There will be a degree of respect from Usain Bolt for Gatlin as a competitor. The bigger issue is for the sport."
Bolt is an eight-time Olympic gold medallist and eleven-time World Champion.
He also holds the world record for the 100m sprint of 9.58 seconds, which he ran in Berlin in 2009.
Bolt himself was more forgiving of Gatlin's transgressions.
"He's done his time," he said after the race. "I know that if I don't show up, he's always going to win - and tonight he showed up. He was the better man tonight."
Black narrowly missed out on a gold medal 20 years ago at the 1997 World Championships, when the USA beat Great Britain in the 4x400m relay by 0.18 seconds.
The US quartet was subsequently disqualified when one of its athletes, Antonio Pettigrew, admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.
Great Britain was retrospectively awarded the gold, although Black still has not received his medal.