"Why can't the females in the sprint have the same thing"- Justin Gatlin questions the absence of light show in women's 100m finals at Paris Olympics

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Aug 19, 2024 19:03 GMT

2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist, Justin Gatlin, recently commented on the absence of a light show during the Women's 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The organizers of the Paris Olympics provided a meticulously designed light show and entrance for the Men's 100m finalists, generating significant excitement for the event. However, the Women's 100m finalists did not receive a similar pre-race introduction.

Owing to this discrepancy, Gatlin and Rodney Green criticized the Paris Olympic organizers for the unequal treatment of male and female athletes in the latest episode of their "Ready Set Go" podcast.

While Green was impressed by the directorial work that went behind the light show, he was highly critical of the disparity in treatment, asserting that the women's finalists were unfairly robbed of a similar grand entrance and light show by the event organizers.

Following Green's comment, Gatlin suggested that the immense popularity of the Men's 100m finals compared to the Women's 100m finals could be one of the main reasons for this snub.

"Bro, I was a 100-meter finalist at the World championships when they had a light show in Doha, and watching the light show here in Paris, it's amazing. Like, you wanna be a part of that. Why can't the females in the sprints have that same thing?"

He further added:

"Everyone has worked hard to get to that finals. And we understand that some events might be a little more popular than others, but the fact is people are watching.”

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Justin Gatlin shares his opinion on the Men's 200m finals at the Paris Olympics

In Picture: Justin Gatlin (Image via Getty Images)

Justin Gatlin recently shared his opinion on the Men's 200m final at the Paris Olympics, where Botswana's Letsile Tebogo clinched the gold medal. During the episode of the "Ready Set Go" podcast after the finals, Gatlin admitted to placing all his bets on Noah Lyles.

However, he felt that Lyles expended significant energy in the Men's 100m final, which may have given a slight edge to other competitors like Tebogo and Bednarek in the 200m race. Gatlin stated (at 2:00):

"When you push your body to max in one event, the 100 meters, and then you have to come back the next day to get ready for the 200, and run rounds competitively against individuals like Kenny Bednarek, Letsile Tebogo, and Erriyon Knighton, like those are the usual suspects that he has to be able to be on his A game to compete against.”

Gatlin also showered praise on Lyles for clinching a bronze medal in the 200m event final despite testing positive for COVID-19.