'It’s all about finding your peace' – Justin Gatlin Reflects on Life After Competition

Former Olympic and world champion Justin Gatlin has praised a Houston-based track and field coach for advocating tough coaching methods for young athletes. 

Gatlin, who has dedicated nearly two decades to athletics, believes that mental resilience is just as important as physical prowess, a point the coach emphasized in a recent discussion.

Even after retiring from competitive sports, Gatlin has stayed closely connected to track and field. 

Among his various engagements, he hosts a podcast, Ready Set Go, where he shares insights from his long career and highlights critical issues in the athletics world, including coaching philosophies.

PAY ATTENTION: Stay updated with the Latest Sports News in Kenya from Pulse Sports

The Houston coach, whose methods have recently gained attention, stressed the importance of mental toughness in young athletes. She highlighted that while athletes today may be physically strong, they often lack the resilience to handle adversity.

"These athletes are mentally weak," she said. 

"They just struggle with overcoming adversity. I know you believe that the most important things for your athletes to focus on is their physical performance, but what about their mental side of things? You all don't want the kids to go through nothing."

"You want everything to be easy for them. You all tell them yes because you don't want them to be mad, and when they get injured or if the coach pisses them off, or if the coach leaves the school, or if they lose or they go through a losing season...they shut down. They don't know how to recover from that."

Gatlin agreed with the coach’s view, voicing his support for a tougher approach. "Real talk," Gatlin wrote. "Stop protecting the weak and start building the strong."

Gatlin’s admiration for the coach underscores a larger conversation in track and field about the mental preparedness of athletes. 

He noted that many young athletes are not equipped to handle setbacks, such as injuries, losses, or changes in coaching staff. For Gatlin, building mental resilience is crucial for long-term success in the sport.

"Coaching is not just about developing physical abilities," Gatlin said. "

"It’s about preparing athletes for the real challenges they will face. The mental side is often overlooked, but it can make all the difference in someone’s career."

Despite his success on the track, Gatlin revealed that he did not consider pursuing coaching after retirement. He explained that coaching requires a different skill set and comes with its own pressures. 

Former athletes are often expected to instantly become great coaches, but Gatlin emphasized that success in coaching requires starting from the ground up.

"There is a lot of pressure," he said.

"People expect us to be just as great a coach as we were athletes. Coaching doesn’t work like that. You have to respect the process and start from the bottom. I thought of it as ‘I gotta be out there as a coach too,’ which is another 20 years in the game—it's a lot."

He added, "If coaching comes, it will have to be later on. Right now, it is all about finding your peace."