Justin Gatlin
I find that as an athlete, we don't get to speak our mind often or share our hearts. So I chose motivational speaking to help make a difference.Collection: Motivational
Everyone should give a second chance, but everyone is also entitled to their opinion.
A lot of people over the last couple of seasons have fallen prey to the unstoppable force Usain Bolt brings to the table. And they just become subdued. That's not who I am. I'm not going to allow myself to become a subdued character.
There is no good runner or bad runner. We are just runners.
I have to get ready to run anywhere under the sun.
For me it has always been an uphill battle because my mind's always racing a mile-a-minute.
It's hard for me to dial in sometimes and be focussed, even though I know that I'm ready.
ADD sucks during training, but coming into finals I actually feel such an energy burst because when I step out on to the track, and I hear so much and I see so many people and my mind gets distracted, I kind of just feel at home actually.
Sometimes you can block out a lot of things because you're thinking about so much and you can distract yourself, but sometimes that distraction of being ADD can really set you back.
I need to win back the hearts of the critics and the skeptics.
My expectations are to establish my dominance and kick butt. And I want to become a leader in the sport.
All I really want to do is race and get into meets and run.
I come out to do what everyone else is trying to do, which is run, run fast and win.
Critics are just what they are. They're going to pick at the positivity of things.
I find little flaws I have in practice, I work on those and go to the gym or I eat better.
Life is fun. And it's beautiful. But it's cold. Cutthroat. Nasty.
I've been to the top, to eat filet mignon, to have sweets, traveling around the world, having everything at your fingertips, to being embarrassed just to walk around in society.
At the top, I was flying high. I didn't understand what it meant to be down and out.
I allowed myself to get beat and I beat myself. That's the worst feeling in the world.
You have people who are out there age 30-plus still competing on the grand stage. If I keep in shape, keep to a certain speed and turn it up when I need to, I think I will be able to get out there and run what I need to run.
I am fighting because of my innocence. I am fighting because I am a victim. I am not a doper.
If I am given an opportunity to fight for my freedom, then I am going to fight for it.
I've just got to pull myself together and hold my head up high.
I'm not just a runner. I'm not just a fast guy. I'm a fighter. I'm a survivor in life.
I'm not my sport, and I know I'm not going to run forever.
I didn't look at age as being a reason to stop running or become slower.
Usually in the off season, when you're done, you're just done. You eat hamburgers and pizza. You're partying and having a good time.
I think of myself as a time-jumper.
But I don't want to sit back and be an audience to my own life.
Everything was cool when I came back running 10.09. Now that I'm running some of the fastest times in history, people are uncomfortable.
I was never a steroid user at all, at least not knowingly.
My ankle is giving me a lot of problems.
I'm 34 - you guys are like, 'oh, he can't be this fast at 34.' But 35, I plan on running even faster. That's my plan.
Come back stronger and faster, that's what I plan to do.
I tried many sports like football, baseball, and swimming. I even played saxophone and piano.
Track, to me, was just a social gather where I left school early, ate pizza and watch the girls in shorts run. Then, I found I was abnormally fast and started to fall in love.
In 2004 after winning my first Olympic gold medal I was featured in magazines as an eligible bachelor. Soon after I started receiving unique and odd fan mail, mainly from female prisoners. I've gotten prison art and love letters throughout the years.
I'm lucky. My family and friends believe in me a lot.
I wanted to go out there and do what no one's ever done - and that's recapture some kind of glory.
If I hadn't have become a runner I would definitely be a zoologist now.
It's hard academically for an ADD sufferer - but, doing something they love, they can be the most focused person of all.
Last time I checked, someone who takes medication for a disorder is not a doper.
I think that I am a serious threat to anybody out there who is trying to get that medal.
What is it really going to amount to if I go out there and run against Usain when he is not at his best? That is not a great storyline. It is not a race I would like to go out and win.
I want Usain at his best, and I think he wants me at my best. That's what people want to see.
As an athlete you have to think about yourself a lot. Think about your body, think about your mind, staying healthy, staying strong, your goals. So it's always about me, me, me, me.
My son has asthma.
Running with someone like Maurice Greene - competing shoulder to shoulder with him - and then running against Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell. And now the young guys, Christian Coleman, Noah Lyles. I'm the only guy that's crossed three generations of sprinters.
I've just remained open to growing. What I mean by that is, when you're an older athlete you can become set in your ways. Each year I try to break a bad habit.
In Brooklyn, the block wasn't very long or very wide, and not that many kids were out there, either. But when I got to Florida, there were a lot of kids on my block, young kids, older kids, and they could play outside until the sun went down and have fun.