Asafa Powell (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican
sprinter who currently holds the 100 m world record
with a time of 9.74 seconds.
Asafa Powell planned to be an engineer before he
took up running whilst studying in Kingston,
Jamaica. His elder brother Donovan was a 100 m
semi-finalist in the 1999 World Championships.
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 (both athletes
moving less than 0.1 seconds after gun firing).
The following season, Powell did not perform to his
usual standards for the 2004 Olympic 100 m in
Athens, after clocking sub-10 seconds times a
record-equaling nine times in a season. He placed
fifth in the 100 m final, and subsequently pulled
out of the 200 m final, for which he had already
qualified 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, beating 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.
Powell won the 2006 Commonwealth Games title easily
after 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 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 Zürich, 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 of $100,000.
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 second in
9.91. Powell finished in a time of 9.96 seconds into
a 0.5 m/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 × 100 m.
Running the anchor leg of the Jamaican relay team,
he came from fifth and nipped Great Britain at the
line with a Jamaican national record of 37.89, while
USA took the gold.
On September 9, 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 100 m,
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. Remarkably, Powell eased up in the final
few metres of his record-setting race, indicating
that he was saving his strength for a fast 100 m
final at the same meet. In the final, Powell ran
9.78 (0 m/s), the fastest 100 m ever when adjusted
for wind assistance and altitude.
Powell has run 100 m in under 10 seconds 33 times, a
record to date bettered only by Maurice Greene, who
has run under 10 seconds 52 times. 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.
