Gatlin Doubles His Pleasure

HELSINKI, Finland —  To the Olympic Stadium crowd, Justin Gatlin was a two-time world champion, a powerful sprinter with uncommonly long strides and the uncommon grace to share his 200-meter triumph with teammates who finished second, third and fourth before taking a solo lap holding a Finnish flag.

He proclaimed himself “king of sprints” after flying off the curve and down the straightaway to win in 20.04 seconds, adding the 200 title to the 100-meter championship he’d won on Sunday.

But to his mother, Jeanette, he was still the child “who couldn’t sit for half a second” while bouncing from gymnastics to karate, swimming and basketball. All the while, running was a constant in his life.

“He was always fast,” Jeanette Gatlin said. “When he was in elementary school and his friends got bikes, he’d race them. They’d come to the door and say, ‘Miss Justin’s mother, can he come out?’ ”

He still has that speed, and he used it on Thursday to lead an unprecedented 1-2-3-4 finish by the U.S. in the 10th world championships. Wallace Spearmon Jr., rode a strong finish to place second in 20.20, and defending world champion John Capel edged youngster Tyson Gay for third, 20.31 seconds to 20.34.

“I’m still in shock,” said Gatlin, the first man to win both sprints since Maurice Greene in 1999. “It’s very sweet. Right now it’s very cold.”

The sting of yet another raw and rainy day was erased for the U.S. team by a six-medal performance, including gold for Michelle Perry in the 100-meter hurdles and Walter Davis in the triple jump.

Perry won her event in 12.66 seconds, but not everything went well for the Americans. Athens gold medalist Joanna Hayes, Perry’s training partner, stumbled over the ninth hurdle and crashed into the 10th, carrying it almost to the finish. She was disqualified, and sobbed as she was carried off on a stretcher, an ice bag taped to her left knee.

She sustained only a bruised left leg and sore right heel, but her emotional wounds ran deep.

“I could feel that I was going to be the world champion. I know it was close,” said Hayes, who was among the top three when she hit the hurdle. “The surge came on, I was moving and I think I moved too hard and rushed that ninth hurdle instead of clearing it and coming down off it. I didn’t take my time. I made a crucial mistake and I lost everything because of it.”

Davis won with his third jump, becoming the first U.S. athlete to triumph in the event since Mike Conley in 1993. Conley, the elite athlete coordinator for USA Track and Field, had encouraged Davis before the competition.

“He had told me I had a chance to win it,” said Davis, who will begin the long jump competition today. “I saw Mike out there watching so I wanted to make him feel good too.”

And Brad Walker, the U.S. indoor and outdoor pole vault champion, won a silver medal with a top clearance of 18-10 1/4 . Rens Blom of the Netherlands, who nearly knocked the bar down at 18- 1/2 , won with a top height of 19- 1/4 inch.

“This year has been a great year for me,” Walker said. “I’m excited to start training for next year because I think there’s bigger and better things to come.”

U.S. athletes have won 15 medals, with three days and at least a half-dozen medal opportunities to go, including a chance for Gatlin in Saturday’s 400-meter relay. He acknowledged that winning three golds in Helsinki, as Carl Lewis did in the first world championships here in 1983 “is the plan.”

Gatlin said he was “playing chess” with his rivals and planned his moves based on what he anticipated they would do. He focused on running the curve well because he knew Gay would likely have a strong start but might falter there; he knew he’d have to save energy to finish strong because Spearmon would close fast.

“I was confident, but at the same time a little bit scared,” Gatlin said.

Spearmon had finished fourth at the U.S. championships and competed here only after Shawn Crawford withdrew because of a foot injury. “Justin’s obviously great. He got two golds. He’s doing something right and he should keep doing it,” Spearmon said. “Hopefully I’ll be there one day.”

Capel, who on Wednesday called his younger teammates “babies” for refusing to bring sodas to their elders during a restaurant visit before the competition, praised them on Thursday.

“We all got together and said, ‘If you’re going to step up, this is how it is [and] now’s the time to do it,’ ” Capel said. “I’m proud of them. They did a great job.”

Perry, continuing to justify her decision to skip the heptathlon this season in favor of the hurdles, edged out Jamaicans Delloreen Ennis-London and Brigitte Foster-Hylton. “It was a very intense race,” Perry said. “I could feel everybody, but I didn’t know where I was in the race. And so I knew that I had to charge home.”

Also on Thursday, four-time 110-meter hurdles champion Allen Johnson ran the fastest semifinal time, 13.23, and led compatriots Terrence Trammell (13.31), Dominique Arnold (13.39) and Joel Brown (13.43) into today’s final. Christine Arron of France had the fastest semifinal time in the women’s 200, 22.45, with Americans Rachelle Boone-Smith (22.69), LaTasha Colander (22.69) and Allyson Felix (22.90) not far behind. The final is today. In the women’s 400-meter hurdles semifinals, Sandra Glover (54.16) and Lashinda Demus (55.00) made it to Saturday’s final.

But the day belonged to Gatlin, who deflected comparisons to Greene.

“Everybody has their own chapter, their own book,” Gatlin said. “It’s a great sport. ... I’m glad to be a part of it.”