Justin Gatlin isn’t giving up

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Banned Olympics 100 meters champion Justin Gatlin simply won’t give up his fight to run in Saturday’s qualifying heats at the U.S. track and field trials in Eugene, Ore.

Attorneys for Gatlin took his case to the next level, sending a motion to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta tonight and asking the court to issue an emergency injunction (pending the Olympic gold medalist’s appeal of the ban) that would allow him to compete.

The top three finishers in each race qualify for a spot on the Olympics team.

His is nothing, though, compared with Butch Reynolds’ intense fight that shook up the 1992 trials in New Orleans in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Sporting News posted the Asoociated Press story that recalls Reynolds’ case.

Anyway, even if the 11th Circuit issues an injunction and Gatlin wins a spot on the U.S. team, it still isn’t clear he would be allowed to compete in Beijing. The International Olympic Committee, after all, issues accreditation and would probably deny Gatlin a spot because the Court of Arbitration for Sport recently upheld his doping ban.

And if you missed Phil Hersh’s stance on this case, read it now. As for Gatlin’s court case, stay tuned.

-- Debbie Goffa