'We’ve won medals throughout'- Justin Gatlin on reforms to change how champions are crowned

'We’ve won medals throughout'- Justin Gatlin on reforms to change how champions are crowned

Abigael Wafula 20:30 - 28.03.2025

The 2004 Olympic champion has proposed replacing traditional medals to reinvent athlete recognition in World Athletics.

The 2004 Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin has suggested a new method of awarding podium finishers, seemingly noting that medals should be gotten rid of.

Justin Gatlin revealed that since athletes start their careers at a lower level, they are always winning medals but there has never been anything aside from that.

The American sprint legend noted that once they turn professional, World Athletics should consider having a different form of awarding athletes to avoid doing the same thing over and over again.

Justin Gatlin revealed that in the US, athletes who qualify for the Olympic Games are usually awarded rings on top of the medals, something he thinks is a good gesture.

“I think it’s a change for our sport right now, medals are cool and I think we’ve won medals throughout our adolescence, high school to college and then winning medals to pro, like bring a belt, a championship belt or ring,” Justin Gatlin said on the Ready Set Go podcast.

“As Olympians, for Team USA, once you qualify for the Olympics, you get a ring, automatically. I like that idea, a belt or ring would be nice, we should make that happen.”

Justin Gatlin’s co-host Rodney Green had earlier commented, revealing that such a move would attract top athletes to many World Athletics events.

The turnout at the World Indoor Championships was wanting and Rodney Green believes one of the reasons behind that is because the athletes are undervalued.

He added that World Athletics should also consider adding the prize money, noting that such issues have been raised by reigning Olympic champion Noah Lyles before.

“There have been a lot of comments about a lot of top athletes not doing world indoors or what they can do to bring back indoors. If they kind of add 30% more money for a person trying to defend a title,” Rodney Green said.

“I’ve heard Noah talk about this before like they should have something like a championship belt or something that could bring back those athletes to say, ‘I have this’, outside of the medal.”

On the sidelines, Justin Gatlin also touched on the women’s 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.

The race was a tight one, with Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas clocking a stunning 7.72 seconds. Ditaji Kambundji came in second in a time of 7.73 seconds with Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent coming in third in 7.74 seconds.

“It’s one of my favourite events to watch right now, be it the 60m hurdles or 100m because all those women are gamers, they are on the game, they are in the peak of their careers and know that when you step on that line, they have to come correct. They got it, look at the line and the statistics,” Gatlin said.

Meanwhile, Justin Gatlin’s proposal to challenge the traditional norms of World Athletics would certainly spark a broader conversation about how the federation can evolve.

There is a growing innovation and increased incentives, and Gatlin’s idea of championship belts or rings could be a game-changer.

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