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'Asafa Powell' (born 11 November 1982) is a Jamaican sprinter, who currently holds the 100m world record with a time of 9.74 seconds. ^[1]

Contents

Career

Sponsorships

Physical characteristics

Personal bests

Honours

60 m

100 m

200 m

References

See also

External links

Career

Asafa Powell was going to be an engineer before he decided to start running. His elder brother Donovan was a 100 m semi-finalist in the 1999 world championships. Unlike many of his compatriots, Powell decided against moving to the USA to further his career and continues to train in Kingston, Jamaica where he often runs on grass wearing "flats" (non spiked running shoes).
Powell first came to the attention of the athletics world at the 2003 world championships when he suffered the ignominy of being the 'other' athlete disqualified for a false start in the quarter-final where Jon Drummond memorably refused to leave the track having suffered the same fate (Drummond was later proved to have not false started).
The following season Powell was one of the gold medal favourites for 2004 Olympic 100 m in Athens, after clocking sub-10 second times a record-equalling 9 times in a season. However, Powell finished a disappointing fifth in the 100m final, and subsequently pulled out of the 200m final, which he had already qualified for earlier on.
The following year, he gained some consolation by breaking the 100 m world record, in Athens on June 14, 2005, setting a time of 9.77 s. This beat American Tim Montgomery's 2002 record of 9.78 s (which was later annulled due to doping charges against Montgomery) by just one one-hundredth of a second. Coincidentally, Powell achieved the feat on the same track as Maurice Greene's 1999 world record 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.
Asafa won the 2006 Commonwealth Games title easily but had to get through a drama-filled semi-final which saw two disqualifications, three false starts and Powell himself running into another competitor's lane while looking at the scoreboard (he was held not to have impeded the other runner).
Powell's world record appeared to be broken on May 12, 2006 by Justin Gatlin's mark of 9.76 s +1.7m/s wind. However, according to IAAF rules, his unofficial time of 9.7660 should have been rounded to an official time of 9.77, not 9.76. Gatlin has since tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, so his record is currently under review by the IAAF.
Powell then equaled his world record time on June 11 2006 at Gateshead International Stadium with a time of 9.77 (+1.5 m/s). August 18 2006, Powell ran the world record time of 9.77 (+1.0 m/s) for the third time in Zurich, Switzerland. Together with Jeremy Wariner (400 m) and Sanya Richards (400 m) he won his sixth out of six IAAF Golden League events (100 m) in the same season, which earned him a total of $250,000. On November 12 2006 he was awarded the title of 2006 Male World Athlete of the Year along with a cheque for $100,000.
Asafa Powell finished 3rd in the 2007 World Championship final in Osaka, Japan behind Tyson Gay, who won in a time of 9.85 seconds, and was Powell's biggest rival building up to the championships. Derrick Atkins, a reported second cousin of Powell's, came 2nd in 9.91. Powell finished in a time of 9.96 seconds into a 0.5m/s headwind after being passed by Gay and Atkins in the late stages of the race. Later, Powell did help to win a silver medal in the 4 x 100 m. Running the anchor leg of the Jamaican relay team, he came from 5th and pipped Great Britain at the line with a Jamaican national record of 37.89, while USA took the gold.
On September 9th 2007, in 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 100m, fulfilling the promise he had made earlier. He had said after his bronze medal in Osaka that he would break the record by the end of the year to make up for the disappointment of not becoming world champion. ^[2] Remarkably, Powell eased up in the final few metres of his record-setting race, indicating that he saving his strength for fast 100 m final at the same meet. ^[3] In the final, Powell ran 9.78 (0 m/s), the fastest 100 m ever when adjusted for wind assistance and altitude.^[4]
To date Powell has legally run under 10 seconds 29 times. Only Maurice Greene (52) has more sub 10 times to his name. Powell is the only man to have run legally under 9.80 seconds more than once, having done so five times, and is the only man to have run legally under 10.00 seconds 12 times in a single season.

Sponsorships

On April 24, 2006, Asafa was announced as global brand spokesperson for Nutrilite. Asafa began taking Nutrilite supplements three months before he broke the world record, and credits it with helping him overcome low energy levels during 2005. [1]

★ Asafa Powell wears Nike and is sponsored by them.

Physical characteristics

★ Height:

★ Weight:

Personal bests

★ 100m 9.74s (2007)

★ 200m 19.90s (2006)

★ 400m 47.0s (2007)

Honours

60 m

Event	Round	City	Date
10th world indoor	5th Semifinal	Budapest	5 March 2004

100 m

Event	Round	City	Date
World Record 9.74 sec	1st 2nd Heat	Rieti	09 September 2007
11th IAAF World Championships	3rd Final	Osaka	26 August 2007
4th Athletic Final IAAF	1st Final	Stuttgart	09 September 2006
2006 Commonwealth Games	1st Final	Melbourne	20 March 2006
2nd Athletic Final IAAF	1st Final	Monaco	18 September 2004
2004 Olympic Games	5th Final	Athens	22 August 2004
1st Athletic Final IAAF	7th Final	Monaco	13 September 2003

200 m

Event	Round	City	Date
2nd Athletic Final IAAF	1st Final	Monaco	19 September 2004
2004 Olympic Games	4th Semifinal	Athens	25 August 2004

References

1. BBC Sport News Article retrieved 9th September 2007
2. Sports Illustrated News Article retrieved 9th September 2007
3. Asafa Powell Breaks World 100 m Record
4. WindAltitude correction in the 100 m sprint

See also

★ World record progression 100 metres men

External links

★

★ Asafa Powell Fansite

★ Another Asafa Powell fansite

★ Asafa Powell and his faith