André Lowe, Special Project Editor-Sports

BRUSSELS, Belgium:

Justin Gatlin's agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, has come out swinging against what he called hypocrisy towards his client's doping history in a protest aimed at the BBC and other sections of the British press in particular.

Gatlin was banned in 2006 after testing positive for banned substances, his second offence following a preceding suspension in 2001 for an amphetamine contained in medication for attention deficit disorder (ADD), which he had been taking since he was a youth.

Testing positive

Nehemiah, who was speaking ahead of Gatlin's appearance at yesterday's IAAF Diamond League closer in Brussels, Belgium, compared the coverage of Gatlin's offences and that of other offenders including British stars Linford Christie, who was banned for two years after testing positive for nandrolone and Paula Radcliffe, who has been accused of doping.

"It's ridiculous! But he's (Gatlin) a targeted profile and that's fine," said Nehemiah.

"They all defended him (Christie)," said Nehemiah. "They all thought he was innocent, and that he never did anything. See what I'm saying? They come up with every kind of excuse (for Christie). That to me is very telling."

"As much as they want to pile on Justin Gatlin, all I've got to do is bring up Linford Christie and they look like fools," Nehemiah added.

Paula Radcliffe's name has come up and now she's having to defend herself, so I'd like to see if they're going to get on her and ask: 'did you do this?'

"In Britain, it's like once you do something in the sport of athletics and doping, it's an unforgivable act," Nehemiah stated.

"Human nature is that you allow someone to rehabilitate, to repent and overcome that, but they don't let you turn away. They gloat in rubbing your nose in it. If the system can't break you, then they want to break you."

Allowed to compete

Nehemiah, who pointed to the fact that Gatlin has been shunned by a number of promoters since his return to the sport, while other athletes with suspensions have been allowed to compete, also took issue with the BBC's commentary of the men's 100m final at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, when Gatlin was defeated by Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt.

BBC commentator Steve Cram noted that Bolt saved his titles and perhaps the sport as the Jamaican successfully defended his title inside the Bird's Nest.

"It's reckless!" blasted Nehemiah. "You can have that opinion privately, but when you're on the national airwaves, you have to be balanced. You can't manipulate your audience and there were a lot of manipulating comments."

"You have every right to call him a drug cheat, but you also have to be responsible," he added.

Gatlin, won the 100m at the Brussels Diamond League in a time of 9.98 to remain unbeaten on the circuit for the past two seasons.