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Bolt urges sprinters to accept Gatlin's comeback

Usain Bolt will not compete again this season © Getty Images

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Usain Bolt has thrown his support behind Justin Gatlin's return to sprinting - and has urged his fellow competitors to follow suit by forgiving the disgraced American.

The Olympic champion has hinted that he sees Gatlin, who was banned from athletics in June 2006 after testing positive for excessive testosterone, as a significant threat over 100 metres.

Gatlin clinched the 100m and 200m double at the 2005 World Championships, having already won the 100m Olympic title in 2004, and he has now made a comeback after a four-year ban.

"If he is there, I will run against him," Bolt said. "This is my job and if anyone tries to dethrone me or tries to beat me then I'm definitely going to be stepping up to the plate and competing against them no matter who they are and what they've done.

"He has done a bad thing but as I've said before if the IAAF can forgive, then why can't anyone else? I hope he has learned his lesson and knows that he has to run clean and work hard now because he will get caught."

Bolt has suffered an injury-hit season this year, with a back problem leading him to announce that he will not compete again in 2010. That meant that he was forced to bow out on a low note, having been beaten by Tyson Gay over 100m in their much-anticipated showdown at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm this month.

But Bolt is insisting that he is not unduly concerned by his form as he always anticipated that this would be an underwhelming season.

"This year for me was my easy season, my laid back season," he said. "This was my season to not stress myself out and to give my body as much rest as possible. [Gay] was much more prepared then me and deserved to win, and that is all I can say.

"Tyson Gay is a great athlete and I wish him all the best, but if he breaks the world record then for me it's like whatever because my main aim is always the [World] championships [next year]."

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