Justin Gatlin was booed by a large portion of the London Stadium crowd when he received his gold medal for 100m victory on Sunday night.
The America shocked Usain Bolt and Christian Coleman to win Saturday’s blue riband event but didn’t receive the usual adoration for his success.
Gatlin received his World Championship gold medal an hour earlier than planned after a change to the schedule.
He stunned the packed Olympic Stadium last night when he beat Usain Bolt into third place.
But drugs cheat Gatlin was roundly booed by the crowd as he held his finger to his lips following his victory.
He was crowned before the night’s events began, with the Star Spangled Banner playing.
Athletics’ governing body has denied the ceremony was moved to combat any negative reception.
The IAAF said it was “nothing to do with the result”.
The controversial American upset the odds to win the race in a time of 9.92 seconds, edging his compatriot Christian Coleman into second and Bolt into third.
Ahead of the race Bolt had been the strong favourite to claim the gold medal before he retires at the end of these Championships.
But instead it was Gatlin who got to the line first – much to the disappointment of athletics fans.
The 35-year-old has twice been found guilty of doping and is something of a poster boy for athletics cheats.
Before the final he was widely booed by those at the London Stadium and that didn’t end when he won the race.
However Gatlin revealed that Bolt didn’t feel the same way as the majority of the crowd and told him so immediately after the closely fought race.
‘We’re rivals on the track and we’ve had a rivalry on the track throughout the years but in the warm-up area we were joking and having a good time and he said to me “congratulations, you work hard for this, and you don’t deserve all these boos”,’ said Gatlin.
He also said Bolt took a moment to congratulate him, despite the Jamaican’s disappointment at failing to add to his incredible haul of gold medals.
‘Usain has accomplished so much in our sport and inspired others like Coleman to come out and compete in the championships.
‘Usain said: “Congratulations, you deserve it.” And that’s from the man himself. He knows how hard I work. Tonight was all about the W (win) and I managed to sneak it.’