Justin Gatlin (The Herald/Submitted Photo)

DeeDee Trotter (The Herald/Submitted Photo)

Tianna Madison(The Herald/Submitted Photo)

There are now three former Tennessee track standouts headed to London. Justin Gatlin and DeeDee Trotter followed in Tianna Madison’s footsteps from Saturday night, punching their tickets to the Olympic Games in front of a crowd of 21,809 at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field on Sunday.

Gatlin, whose return from a highly-publicized suspension has gone well despite a four-year absence from the sport, capped off that comeback by becoming America’s fastest man in 2012 with a career-best time of 9.80 seconds to win the 100 meters at the U.S. Trials. He’ll be making his second Olympic appearance, but first since 2004, with the number-two time in the world behind Jamaica’s Usain Bolt.

In his first appearance at the Games in Athens back in 2004, Gatlin won three medals for America. He took the gold in the 100m dash, aided the 4x100m relay to a silver and grabbed a bronze in the 200m dash. He is expected to start his Olympic quest in the 200m at the U.S. Trials, beginning on Friday.

In the women’s 400-meter dash final, there was little mention of Trotter in the pre-race build up. But as she did so many times as a Lady Vol, Trotter made a strong finish over the final 150 meters and qualified for her third Olympic Games by taking second behind victor Sanya Richards-Ross in 50.02.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.