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 Bolt has dominated the 100m and 200m at major championships since
winning both in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics,
only a false start in the short sprint final at the 2011 world
championships preventing him from a clean sweep.
Joint problems have hampered the 29-year-old's season, however, and
he returns to the Bird's Nest stadium for the 100m heats on Saturday
with best times of 9.87 and 20.13 seconds for each sprint.
Gatlin, although he has yet to go head-to-head with Bolt this year
and has beaten the Jamaican only once in seven attempts over the
100m, has not been beaten in either sprint for two years.
The 33-year-old owns the best times of the year in both events with
a personal best of 9.74 in 100m and 19.57 in the 200m.
"Right now, if I have to go by what's happening right now you would
say Justin is going to win," Greene told Reuters.
"But the biggest problem is you never know what Usain is going to
come out with because, you have to remember, he's been where nobody
has been before.
"So who knows if he's going to come back with something like that?
It's very well possible so you can never count him out.
"Bolt don't ever run a lot. It doesn't matter if he's run four races
or 12 races, you're gonna get a race."
SUNDAY INDICATOR
The Beijing sprint showdowns between Bolt, who has never failed a
drugs test, and Gatlin, who has served two suspensions for using
banned substances, have been billed as battles for the soul of the
sport.
The last two rounds of the 100m both take place on Sunday evening
and Greene said the semi-finals would be a good guide to what would
happen later in the evening.
"The semis is going to really tell a lot," he said. "It's going to
show you if Bolt is really ready and then you'll be able to make
your decision for the final."
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The 200 meters final takes place next Thursday and Greene felt his
compatriot had an even better chance of becoming the first major
championship gold medalist apart from Bolt since Tyson Gay won the
2007 world title in Osaka.
"I got to see the 100 first but in the 200, I would be more inclined
to pick Justin," he said.
"Just because it's a harder race and you've got to be really fit and
we know how fit Justin has been.
"So that will be easier to pick but you never know what Usain's
going to come back with."
Bolt has, of course, run much faster than Gatlin's season-leading
marks and holds the world record for both events with the 9.58 and
19.19 he ran to win gold at the Berlin world championships in 2009.
The Jamaican knows he is not in the kind of shape to run those sort
of times in Beijing but said on Thursday that Gatlin would have to
run the fastest race of his life to take his 100m title.
"I used to say when I was running 'I'm gonna go some place you
can't'," Greene, a former 100m world record holder, added.
"That's just what Usain is saying, he knows he can run 9.6, he's
done it before and if you can't go there, you don't have a shot.
"But let's just see if he can go there also."
(Writing by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)
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