While Olympic 100 meter champion Justin Gatlin faces a possible lifetime ban after testing positive for banned substances, many of the sport's top athletes said they were shocked when the 23-year-old American acknowledged late last month that he had failed a drug test.

"It was hard to believe, I couldn't believe it," said Shawn Crawford, the 2004 Olympic 200 meter champion and a training partner of Gatlin's. "He's like Mr. Track & Field. You don't really expect stuff like that. Especially him being my training partner. I wasn't expecting anything like that."

Crawford said he hasn't spoken with Gatlin since he publicly acknowledged the positive tests on July 29.

"No, I'll just let it be," Crawford said. "I know his phone's probably blowing up so, I'll talk to him next year."

"I'm trying to be there to support him mentally," Crawford added, "and let him know that he still has a friend in me. I don't look at him any differently. But the news just shocked me."

Jamaican Asafa Powell, who jointly holds the world record with Gatlin, said he was both surprised and disappointed.

"I was shocked, very shocked," said Powell, who last Friday in Zurich again equalled the 9.77 world record. "I wasn't happy at all."

"This is very bad for track and field," Powell continued. "I'm only disappointed because a lot of people were looking forward to a match up between him and me, and now it's not going to happen. I wanted to run [against him]."

Sanya Richards, who along with Gatlin has been lauded as part of the sport's "young generation" in the United States, said she was also surprised by the news, but remains supportive.

"I was very surprised," said Richards, this year's world leader in the 400 meters. "I felt really bad for Justin because I know him personally, and he's a really nice guy, a really humble person. So it was really a shock for me and I really hate that it has happened to him. I'm hoping that it'll clear up and that his name will come out smelling like roses, but it's hard to come back from something like that."

World and Olympic 400 meter champion Jeremy Wariner said he too was surprised, but admitted that he hasn't been paying too much attention to the Gatlin news.

"I was surprised by it, but at the same time I was trying to just focused on my racing, so I didn't pay too much attention to it or read a lot about it," Wariner said. "I'm not really worrying about his situation. Whatever is happening there, they'll get all that situated soon. I just wish the best for him and I just hope that everything goes the right way."

Sweden's Kajsa Bergqvist, the world high jump champion, said the situation is terribly unfortunate for the entire sport.

"It surprised me a lot," Bergqvist said. "I think it's extremely sad for him and for the sport and for everyone. I mean, there aren't too many stars in athletics, and I didn't think he would do anything like that."

Olympic 400 meter hurdles champion Felix Sanchez said that while the sport has yet again found itself under a dark cloud, the news is ultimately good.

"It's sad, but it's good," Sanchez said, adding that the belief some held that the sport's biggest stars could escape scrutiny simply doesn't hold true. "Now we know that it doesn't matter who you are, they're going to catch you. We don't have to worry. You know now that users are getting caught."

Sanchez said that despite efforts to block out the possibility that athletes he lines up against might be cheaters, it is something that does weigh on a competitor's mind.

"You do think about it. Especially in a sport that's so mental."

Meanwhile, USA Track & Field, the sport's governing body in the United States, apologized to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the sport's international governing body, for its handling of Gatlin's positive finding.

USATF knew of the result on June 14, but failed to notify the IAAF that Gatlin had tested positive for testosterone at the Kansas Relays in April. Two days later, the IAAF ratified Gatlin's 9.77 world record-equalling performance from the May 12 competition in Doha, Qatar. The IAAF didn't learn about Gatlin's tests until the sprinter's acknowledgement appeared in the media on July 29.

"Had the IAAF known sooner of the positive finding, we wouldn't have ratified the record so quickly," said IAAF spokesman Nick Davies. If Gatlin's appeals are rejected, the record, along with all other performances since April 22, would be annulled.

USATF had wrongly assumed that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the organ that oversees drug testing in the U.S., would notify the IAAF. USATF said that it would immediately amend its policy and notify the international body of the name of any athlete and the substance for which a laboratory has reported a positive A sample.

Belgian Kim Geveart, the European 100 and 200 meter champion, echoed many of the sentiments shared by other athletes.

"Like a lot of people I was shocked and disappointed to hear that this happened," Geveart said, referring to both the Gatlin case and the news over the weekend that the A sample for sprinter Marion Jones had come back positive for EPO at the U.S. championships in June. "But on the other side it's good that finally there is something that's provided to prove what happens." Pausing briefly, Geveart summarized, "It's just weird."