He never feels he's bigger than life."My whole motivation when I was running, I called it the Wow System I always wanted to wow people. He has obligations to give back to the sport," Nehemiah said."He comes from a middle-class family in Brooklyn - his father has a military background, his mother works in marketing with a New York advertising company. But obviously I can't do that right now - I have to go out there and concentrate on my races."This young man is being carefully monitored by his agent, the former world high hurdles record holder Ronaldo Nehemiah."I've told him that when it's time for him to leave the sport, if he's only remembered for how fast he ran I'd be sort of disappointed in him. You want to go and hang out with your friends: a lot of my friends don't run track, they're out socialising, going to clubs, drinking, just being young. "It will be preparing for each round - going home on time, being responsible, not hanging out, taking ice baths and getting massages It's knowing how to prepare myself to be a champion Being aged 23, it's hard to be disciplined. That's the thing I love about track and field - it's unpredictable Even in the 200m there's so much talent around.

You have Wallace Spearmon and Tyson Gay of the United States, you have Usain Bolt in Jamaica, you have great talent in Britain."Gatlin will double up in Helsinki, but he believes the hardest part will not be the running. I want to go out there and put another notch on it, make it 9.75."He accepts that becoming the Olympic champion has changed him "It turns you into a man," he said. "You have to go out there knowing you have a lot of responsibility to a lot of kids. I have a lot of young athletes in America who call me and tell me about their progress in their track and field meets, and I support them in the same way they support me. And that support system has helped me this year to be more aggressive and to go out and win my races."Everyone thought I had a chance to win in Athens but no one thought I would win.

The world record has been ticked down by a notch the last three times. And that's what we're trying to do right now - uplift track and field. Of course, we both have respect for each other, but when we go out there we want to annihilate each other, basically. "Don't you love that? The story behind it? The Olympic champion against the world record holder. "There is a cloud, but we can take that cloud away," he said "I know what to say no to and what to say yes to. But both were surprised by Gatlin, who became the youngest Olympic 100m champion since Jim Hines in 1968.