Asafa Powell C.D

Asafa Powell C.D (born November 23, 1982, in Spanish Town, Jamaica) is a Jamaican sprinter and the son of two ministers. He previously held the 100 metres World Record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell also ran the anchor leg of the gold medal winning and World Record setting, Jamaican men’s 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. His personal best time in the 100 m of 9.72 seconds (set on the 2nd of September, 2008) is also the joint second-fastest time in the history of the event.

Career
Powell planned to be a mechanic before he took up running while studying in Kingston, Jamaica.[1][2] His elder brother Donovan, was a 100 m semi-finalist in the 1999 World Championships. Powell is a member of the MVP (Maximising Velocity and Power) Track & Field Club based at the University of Technology (U-Tech), Kingston and is coached by Stephen Francis OD since 2001.

2002
Asafa Powell along with Michael Frater, Dwight Thomas and Christopher Williams formed the Jamaican relay team that went on to achieve a silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Powell finished just behind Darren Campbell in the last leg of the relay with both men finishing the relay in 38.62 seconds, though people to this day are undecicded as to who really won as it actually looks like Powell dipped further than Darren Campbell to cross the line first.

2003
Powell first came to attention within the world of athletics at the 2003 World Championships, when he suffered the ignominy of being ‘the other athlete’ disqualified for a false start in the quarter-final. This was when Jon Drummond memorably refused to leave the track having suffered the same fate, both athletes moved less than 0.1 seconds after the gun had fired, with Powell’s reactions being timed at 0.086 seconds.  During the 2003 season, Powell won 2 IAAF Grand Prix events, 1 of which was a Golden League event.

2004
The following season, Powell was one of the favorites for a medal at the 2004 Olympic’s 100 m race in Athens, after winning the Jamaican National Championships with a personal best time of 9.91 s. Although he ended the season with a record-equaling nine sub-10 second runs, Powell finished just fifth in the highly competitive Olympic final, with a time of 9.94 s. Following this he pulled out of the 200 m final, even though he had already qualified for it earlier on. He recorded 5 IAAF Grand Prix wins in 2004. In addition, he won the 100 m and 200 m races at the World Athletics Final, setting Championship Records in both, and is the only man to win both races at the same WAF to date.

2005
In 2005 Powell again won the 100 m Final at the Jamaican National Championships. He gained some consolation for his Olympic performance by breaking the 100 m World Record in Athens on June 14, 2005, setting a time of 9.77 s, beating American Tim Montgomery’s 2002 record of 9.78 s (which was later annulled due to doping charges against Montgomery) by just 0.01 seconds. Coincidentally, Powell achieved the feat on the same track as Maurice Greene’s 1999 World Record run of 9.79 s. Wind assistance for Powell was measured at 1.6 m/s, within the IAAF legal limit of 2.0 m/s. A groin injury in July cut short his season, which ended with just 2 IAAF Grand Prix event wins.

2006
2006 was Powell’s most successful season. In addition to winning the 200 m at the Jamaican National Championships, he won ten 100 m IAAF Grand Prix events, including a 6-for-6 performance in the Golden League events. Powell won the 2006 Commonwealth Games 100 metres race after a drama-filled semi-final which saw two disqualifications and three false starts. Powell himself ran into another competitor’s lane while looking at the scoreboard, however he was held not to have impeded the runner. He also anchored the 4 x 100 m relay team, and finished the Commonwealth Games with two gold medals.

Powell then equaled his World Record time on June 11, 2006 at Gateshead International Stadium, with wind assistance measured at +1.5 m/s. On August 18, 2006 in Zürich, Powell equalled it again for the third time, with wind assistance at +1.0 m/s. He won his sixth IAAF Golden League event (in the 100 m) the same season, thus earning him a total of $250,000 in prize money. Powell also won the 100 m at the World Athletics Final, again setting a new Championship Record. On November 12, 2006, he was awarded the title of 2006 Male World Athlete of the Year along with a cheque for $100,000.

2007
Powell was again the Jamaican National Champion for the 100 m in 2007. However, he only managed to finish 3rd in the 100 m final at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan behind Tyson Gay, who was considered Powell’s biggest rival building up to the Championships. Derrick Atkins, a reported second cousin of Powell’s, came second in 9.91 seconds. Powell himself finished in a time of 9.96 seconds (running in a 0.5 m/s headwind) after being passed by Gay and Atkins in the late stages of the race. Later he admitted that after seeing Gay pass him, he panicked and gave up, allowing Atkins to also overtake.

When Tyson came on and gave me a little bit of pressure I just panicked. When I saw I wasn’t in gold medal contention, I gave up in the middle of the race. I just stopped running. [8]

Former American sprinter Michael Johnson was critical of Powell’s performance, stating:

[Y]ou could see him thinking, I’m losing it, I’m losing it, and he just gave up at that point. That’s what was really disappointing. He just dropped his head. [9]

However Powell did help to win the silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay race. Running the anchor leg for the Jamaican team, he came from fifth and passed Great Britain at the line to help record a Jamaican national record of 37.89 seconds. The USA meanwhile, took gold.

On September 9, 2007, in the opening heats of the IAAF Rieti Grand Prix in Rieti, Italy, Powell ran a new World Record time of 9.74 s (+1.7 m/s) in the 100 m, thus fulfilling the promise he had made earlier after his bronze medal in Osaka, that he would break the record by the end of the year. This was intended to make up for the disappointment of not becoming World Champion. Remarkably, Powell eased up in the final few meters of his record-setting run, indicating that he was saving his strength for the final. In the final itself, Powell finished in 9.78 s (0 m/s windspeed) and bettered his semi-final time, when adjusted for wind assistance. Powell finished 2007 with a total of 5 IAAF Gran Prix event wins, plus his second consecutive World Athletic Final 100 m win, with yet another Championship Record. Unfortunately, Powell ended his season on September 30 with a left hamstring injury, which came about while running in the lead of the 200 m race at the Super Track & Field meet in Yokohama, Japan.

2008
Powell’s 2008 season started much as his 2007 season ended: with another injury. Powell was forced to pull out of the Sydney Grand Prix meeting, having suffered a gash to his left knee that required four stitches. The injury was a result of tripping on the steps of his home, hours before getting on the flight to Sydney on February 12th.

Powell was again injured in April, this time with damage to his pectoral muscles. The injury forced Powell out of competition for two months, and was sustained while weight training in Jamaica during mid-April. Surgery was required, and a visible scar was left on his right underarm.

On the 31st of May, fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt ran a time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City, and took the 100 m World Record. Powell had held this for nearly three years.

On July 11th, Powell suffered his third injury of 2008 while leading in Heat 1 of the Golden Gala Roma. He had injured his groin (described as a “strain” and a “cramp”), and was forced to miss the next two events on the Grand Prix schedule. [13] Powell made his comeback at the DN Galan, where he beat the new World Record holder Bolt, in a close race, and lead home a Jamaican 1-2-3-4 with Nesta Carter and Michael Frater following the pair. This top four would later combine to run the 4 x 100m relay at the Olympics.

Prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Powell hit back at the claims saying he lacked the mental strength needed to win an Olympic gold medal.

It [the Olympics] doesn’t scare me. The guys that I’m running against in Beijing are the same ones I run against all year, it’s no different at the Olympics - it’s just a name, and you should put that aside until you cross the line. If all you guys look back and check from before, you’ll see that Athens was my first Olympics, I ran my personal best in the final - so I’m not sure why people say I don’t run my best in finals. The World Championships was the only final where I didn’t do as expected. I made a once-in-a-lifetime mistake and it won’t happen again. I’m running against myself - I’m the only one who can defeat myself and I don’t intend to.

Despite his words, the 100 m final saw Powell again finish in a disappointing fifth, recording a time of 9.95 seconds. Teammates Bolt and Michael Frater also raced in the final. Bolt won and broke his own World Record (finishing in 9.69 seconds) and Frater came sixth, recording his first sub-10 clocking at 9.97 seconds.

Seven days later, Powell finally got his first Olympic gold as he anchored the Jamaican 4 x 100 m relay team to victory, helping establish a new World Record in the process. His Split time was recorded at 8.70 seconds (USTAF High Performance Registered Split Analysis), bettering his previous record of 8.84 set in Osaka, 2007. This is the fastest electronically timed anchor run in history, as Bob Hayes was hand timed as running between 8.6-8.9 seconds in the 1964 Olympics.

On September 2nd, 2008, Powell ran a new personal best in the 100 m by recording a time of 9.72 seconds, with windspeed measured at +0.2m/s. He accomplished this feat at the Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland. After the run, Powell said that Bolt’s record performance at the Olympics had inspired him to target a time of 9.59 seconds:

Two years ago I said to myself I could go 9.65 or faster but based on how Usain is running it’s my aim now to go below 9.6. Usain can obviously run very fast but I’m not going to put him out of my reach. I’d say in the Olympic 100 m it looked like Usain could have run 9.63, 9.65 maybe. I was shocked to see what he did in the race, it was ridiculous. I can’t imagine the times he’s capable of running at the moment. He’s the man to beat right now but before it was me and if I can break another world record then I’ll be the one back in the spotlight.

He was optimistic about his future chances on the track, and philosophical as to why he couldn’t peak in past major championships:

The 2012 London Games will be my last opportunity and Beijing was certainly my best chance but you never give up. I’ve got no idea why I’m always winning on the circuit but then finishing fifth at the Olympics. Maybe if it was just a one-off race without the qualifying rounds I would have done better. Who knows? Maybe I’m not the guy for those big championships but just the guy to compete in the Grand Prix and Golden League meetings. It’s just unfortunate.

2008 was Powell’s second-best season on the Grand Prix circuit, claiming 7 victories.

On his return to Jamaica, Powell was honoured in a homecoming celebration and received an Order of Distinction in recognition of his achievements at the Olympics.

Sub-10.0 runs (100 m)

• To date, Powell has ran the 100 m under 10 seconds on 48 occasions, the only man to have bettered this mark is Maurice Greene with 51 runs.

Sub-9.90 runs (100 m)

• Powell has run under 9.90 seconds 24 times.

Sub-9.80 runs (100 m)

• Powell is one of only two men to have run legally under 9.80 seconds more than once, having done so 7 times. Bolt is the other individual to have achieved this feat, having done so 4 times himself.

Sub-10.0 runs, Season (100 m)

• Powell is the only man to have run legally under 10.00 seconds 15 times in a single season (2008).

Grand Prix wins

• Powell has recorded a total of 31 wins in IAAF Grand Prix events, 12 coming in Golden League events and 7 in Super Grand Prix events. He has won the 100 m at the World Athletics Final 4 times.

Sponsorship
Powell has been under contract with Nike since 2004, representing them in all his IAAF races, and agreeing to appear in various advertising campaigns for the company. Nike designed and built the Zoom Aerofly shoes for him, to be used at the 2008 Beijing Games.

GlaxoSmithKline, through its energy drink Lucozade, has sponsored Powell since he first broke the 100 m World Record in 2005. They honored his Beijing achievements in a small function in October 2008

In January 2006, Powell signed as a global brand spokesperson for Nutrilite, the world’s leading brand of vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements. Nutrilite products are sold through Amway corporation.