davan:
you are confusing serious javelin training where an athlete can be “mildly athletic” throwing 60m and decathletes at the younger stages who if not introduced to the javelin earlier mostly struggle to throw it 50m given the training demands of the decathlon. You assume Gatlin will automatically transfer his speed into the javelin.
you and a couple of others assume that he wouldn’t have to gain weight to be a successful decathlete without looking like an amateur in the throws. This weight gain would be detrimental to overall speed and speed endurance, but likely not momentum. There is also this assumption that Gatlin’s high school coaching which may not have been the greatest for optimal speed development could like many high school programs been very good for general athletic development and more inline with multi-event training. Then there is the assumption that his training in college would be the same for sprints/hurldes/jumps as it was with some added javelin, discus, shot, and pole vault work. Well it just doesn’t work that way, 3 of those events are the most technical events in track and field and to become a competent decathlete with those events is a continuing work in progress for someone has never trained for them and is just being introduced to them.
Out of high school he wouldn’t be breaking the national high school record in the decathlon like some of you have been suggesting with point totals. He had very good potential to score well on Day 1 of the Decathlon, but like many who have potential he would have found Day 2 to be a daunting experience. If in college he wanted to be a decathlete he would have been around 6800 pointer after 1 or 2 years depending on competency and no matter how raw of an athlete he was out of high school if UT thought he was an 8000 pointer compared to a 10.1x 100m sprinter they likely may have given him a shot. 8000+ points is an olympic medal and ncaa champion marks, while 10.1x 100m is going to get you points and in an off year at the NCAA’s. Some of make the decathlon seem like it’s easy to be good at all ten events. UT made the right decision if they had to make one at all, his abilities and his frame suited the 100m/110H over decathlon.