Championships leave Gatlin in a dream world

A pair of shiny gold medals dangling from his neck for one last photograph, double sprint champion Justin Gatlin prepared to leave the world championships yesterday with new confidence and even bigger ambitions.

"This seems like a dream," the Olympic 100 metres champion said of his domineering run to 100 and 200 metres world titles.

"I feel like a new Justin Gatlin," the 23-year-old sprinter told Reuters.

"Everyone's perspective of me has changed. People see me as a greater athlete, an ambassador of track and field. I also think more people believe in me."

His victory at last year's Athens Games alerted the world to his great talent but the speedy race left people wondering if he could do it again in a major championship, Gatlin said.

He answered with the greatest winning margin in championship history in the 100 metres, running 9.88 seconds, and pulled off another one-sided triumph in the 200 with a 20.04 clocking despite wet, cold weather.

"It really put my name in the history book," Gatlin said.

Only former Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene had won both sprints in a world championship.

"You have to do well in the 100 and 200 or the 200 and 400 to be great," said Gatlin who believes dominance is the key to success.

The goal now is to chase injured Jamaican Asafa Powell's June world record of 9.77 seconds.

"It's the only thing left for me to get," Gatlin said. "I can be the Olympic champion again and the world champion again but it would not feel as good as going out and getting the record," he added.

"I have to complete the collection."

Gatlin is likely to meet Powell in Zurich on Friday. He will also run in Sheffield two days later and Brussels on August 26 before competing in the IAAF world athletics final in Monaco from September 9-10.

"It's the final all over again, racing the top eight guys," Gatlin said of the Monaco event.

"It's hard to get back in that position when you just want to go out there and run (for the record). But Allyson (Felix) talked me into going so I am going to go," said Gatlin referring to the women's world 200 champion.

The pair, whom Gatlin describes as very close friends, will make their first trip to China for the Shanghai golden grand prix on September 17 and also plan to run in Yokohama, Japan.

"I always want to go to the country where the next Olympics will be held before I compete," Gatlin said of the 2008 Games being held in Beijing.

"I like to get the feel of the place, feel of the crowd, so I can come in and do my job."

Gatlin said he wondered at first if he was going to be able to do his job at the worlds in the Helsinki rain.

"When I first got here, I thought, 'This is going to a bad experience of a world championship'," he recalled.

"But it turned out great."