The National's Sport cover for the Wednesday, August 26 issue, featuring Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin, the central figures in a classic duel ongoing at the Athletics World Championships.
Osman Samiuddin frames the morality play Beijing has been witness to this week, where Usain Bolt – never banned for doping and never having faced serious accusations – represents the hero, the good in the sport of sprinting. Opposite him is Justin Gatlin, the American twice banned for doping and a ready-made villain.
“As much as the 100-metre race at the Athletics World Championships should be about Usain Bolt, it is not,” Osman writes.
“He definitely did what everyone fervently hoped he would, which, primarily, was to beat Justin Gatlin and in the process defeat the Dark Side.
“He did it and reaffirmed his position among the greatest athletes of all time. That is a happy place to be in, for now, forever.
“But more and more, in its aftermath, that race feels like it was actually about Gatlin. Because, setting aside the short-term answer of the 200m duel in Thursday’s final, what does he do now? Where does Gatlin go?
“Comic-book villains generally have the decency to die or go to jail. Gatlin, who has become one as much as Bolt is a superhero, is not facing either fate. He has to keep living, competing.
“That, actually, may be the worst punishment.”
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