Merritt the man to beat, says Gonzales

Friday, February 10, 2012

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) — Jermaine Gonzales dismissed the threat of World champion Kirani James of Grenada and said American LaShawn Merritt will be the man to beat for the gold medal in the 400 metres at the Olympic Games in London this year.

The 27-year-old Gonzales, a part of the World-famous Racers Track Club barn that includes World 100 and 200m record holder Usain Bolt and reigning World 100 champion Yohan Blake, said his aim this year was to become the first non-American to run under 44 seconds.

"My personal best is 44.4 secs, and last year I ran 44.6 after doing no off-season training at all because I was injured," he said in an article in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

"So I reckon breaking 44 secs this year is possible, because I am way more experienced and I have been training so hard."

Gonzales said he was pleased with what he had achieved so far this season, being able to deliver the times his coach Glenn Mills has requested, recovering quickly, and staying injury-free.

"I'm going to need to get down to those kinds of times if I am going to beat LaShawn, Jeremy Wariner and Kirani James to one of those Olympic medals," he said.

"For LaShawn to be out for two years and come back late last season and run 44 secs and be so competitive, that shows you how good he is. He has run 43.75 before, and at 25, he is still pretty young."

Gonzales said: "He is quick and strong and I think he is the man to beat, more so than Wariner or James.

"I'm not the kind of person who could hold a grudge against LaShawn for his drugs ban. We talk a bit when we see each other. He's not a close friend, but he isn't an enemy either. I think he's privileged to have got that chance to run in the Olympics and World Championships again after he was banned."

Gonzales narrowly missed out on a medal at last year's Worlds in Daegu, South Korea, where he finished fourth in 44.99 in the 400.

He said coming this close has driven him to reach for higher heights and, once he stayed injury-free, felt a medal could be around the corner.

"All I really care about is making sure I beat him," he said. "At the World Championships last year, I thought that I was going to get a medal, even though I had no background training.

"Unfortunately, it didn't happen, which is tough to take, so basically this year, I just want to make sure I get that medal."

He concluded that his background training was pretty much over and he would run his first race of the year, a 4x400 relay, at the end of the month.

"I'm looking forward to doing some hard racing," he said. "When you are training you don't know exactly where you are at, you need a few races to see.

"I'm feeling pretty confident, so I'm looking forward to getting out there on the track, so I can figure out exactly where I am at."

Until then, he said he wanted to work on playing dominoes and beating Bolt in that game.

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Merritt the man to beat, says Gonzales