EUGENE, Oregon: Disgraced 2004 Olympic 100 meters champion Justin Gatlin's comeback bid gained new life Wednesday when he was invited to compete in Saturday's Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting. The 2005 world champion, still hoping to prove he can compete with the best after a four-year doping ban, will face 2008 Olympic silver medalist Richard Thompson of Trinidad and speedy Jamaicans Nesta Carter and Michael Frater, officials said. “It is going to be competitive and it is going to be fast,” the 29-year-old told Reuters of his first major race since 2006 when he tested positive for too high a level of the male sex hormone testosterone. “I feel honored just to be able to come and run at a prestigious meet like this at the USA mecca of track and field.” Gatlin said his aim was to break the 10-second barrier. His personal best is 9.85 at the Athens Olympics with a world-record tying 9.77 nullified in 2006 because of the doping ban. That still is almost two-tenths of a second off Jamaican Usain Bolt's 2009 world record of 9.58 seconds. “This is a totally different planet for me,” Gatlin said of Saturday's race. “In 2006 when I was (last) competing, there was no Diamond League,” he said of the global circuit.
