Power to the Powell



By Tom Fordyce




Whisper it quietly if you are within earshot of Maurice Greene, but there is a new favourite for the men's 100m title.
Asafa Powell might be just 21 years old - the same age as British sprint hope Mark Lewis-Francis - but he shows every sign of continuing Jamaica's incredible run of success in Olympic sprints.
Prior to Greene's triumph in Sydney, the last three Olympic 100m finals had been won by men born in Jamaica.
Canada's Donovan Bailey, who took gold in 1996, was born in Manchester, Jamaica; Linford Christie, champion in 1992, in St Andrews, and Ben Johnson, first across the line in 1988, in Falmouth.
The difference, of course, is that Powell still runs for the country of his birth.
Very fast, too.
Last month he clocked 9.91 seconds at the London Grand Prix, the fastest time ever run in Britain, beating Greene in the process.


I am in world record shape
Asafa Powell
Then, at the Weltklasse Golden League meeting in Zurich, he beat Greene again, this time in 9.93secs.


"I am real confident, real confident," said Powell, at a reggae party for the Jamaican athletics team in Athens.
"I'm not sure he (Greene) is going to come back to beat me. Let him stay at the back."
Of course, Greene is the man so confident of winning Olympic gold on Sunday that he says, "It's just waiting on me - I just have to go pick it up."
Greene has gone under 10 seconds on more occasions than any other man in history - a staggering 50 times.
At 30 he also has nine years more experience of the big competitions than Powell, who is in only his second full year on the international circuit.
Then there is the threat from Greene's US team-mates, Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin.



Crawford, previously thought of as more of a 200m specialist, has the fastest time in the world this year with 9.88secs.


He has also gone on record as saying he can go as low as 9.72secs, a time which would destroy the current world record by a massive 0.06secs.
Gatlin is the 22-year-old former world indoor 60m champion, another prodigious talent in an event which is seeing a new generation of stars emerge.
Powell was disqualified at the quarter-final stage of the World 100m last summer for false starting, having set the fastest time in the first round of heats.
But the Jamaican, whose brother Donovan ran at the Sydney Olympics as part of the 4x100m team, refuses to be intimidated.
"After last year, I knew that I was going to become stronger this year and would be running a lot faster," he says.
"My brother's success built up my confidence a lot. It told me that I was up there.
"I am in world record shape."
At the start of this season, the talk of Jamaican sprint medal chances was all about Usain Bolt, the 17-year-old prodigy who ran an incredible 19.93secs for the 200m back in April.




JAMAICA'S OLYMPIC 100M HEROES
1952: Herb McKenley - silver
1968: Lennox Miller - silver
1976: Don Quarrie - silver

But Bolt has been struggling with a hamstring injury since then, and is relieved just to be in Athens. The hopes of 2.6 million Jamaicans are now resting firmly on Powell's shoulders.
And, unlike his illustrious predecessors, Powell will continue to live his life on the island of his birth.
He is studying electrical engineering at Kingston University, having turned down the chance to study in the United States.
"To win the gold medal would mean the world to me," he says. "The Olympics is the biggest event in the world."

Saw Powell's was interview this morning and in his slow measured way he said.."I will leave Greene to do the talking while I do the running", words to that effect but imagine it in the accent, I had to laugh.



I wish him the best of luck though.clp)

[align=center]Asafa Powell [/align]

[align=left]Awesome [/align]

[align=left]Power in motion[/align]
heh heh heh

Thisblistering speedster will leave them eating dust.

That JA Flag should cast a Black Power shadow over the starspangled banner on the medal podium.

Get ready to step downMaurice Gangerine - it's over.

That 100 metres medal is coming home.

The Jamaicans are really good in the track and field competitions. Generally in the caribbean, both men and women athletes do well, so what are the other medal hopefuls in the olympics from the caribbean apart from Asafa Powell?

runfromyourwife wrote:

Come on Mr. Runfromthefacts,

Please display to me that you have some semblence of common sense.Ben Johnson was a known steroid addict before the Seoul Olympics.But you then pull some out of your ass excuse for JA choking in 2000.

Seems that Mr. Ben Johnson was so high on "roids" that he soon gave back the medal.

The soon to be champs bioniceone.gif





MAURICE GREENE
Events: Sprints
Height: 5-9
Weight: 176
PRs: 100m 9.79 (1999), 200m 19.86 (1997), 60m WR (i) 6.39 (1998, 2001)
Born: July 23, 1974 in Kansas City, Kan.
Current Residence: Granada Hills, Calif.
High School: Schlagle HS, Kansas City, Kan. ‘93
Coach: John Smith
Agent: Emanuel Hudson
Club: adidas


[align=justify]Career Highlights: 2004 Olympic Trials 100m champion; 2000 Olympic 100m and 4x100m gold medalist; 3-time World 100m champion (‘97, ’99, ‘01); 1999 World 200m and 4 x 100m champion; 2001 U.S. Indoor 60m Champ; 1999 World Indoor 60m champion; 1997, 2000, 2002 U.S. 100m champ; 1999 U.S. 200m champion; Indoor 50m & 60m dash world record holder[/align]

[align=justify]The dominant 100m sprinter of his era, Greene is looking for a return to his gold medal-winning form in 2004 after up-and-down seasons in 2002 and 2003. Despite an injury-shorted season in 2001, Greene remained firmly atop the world in the 100m that year, winning his third World Championships 100m gold…in 2001 Greene also received recognition as USATF’s Visa Humanitarian of the Year Award, in part for the work he does with the Maurice Greene Finish the Race Youth Foundation, which he founded in 2001 in his hometown of Kansas City, Kan. … Greene owns three of the four fastest times in history of 9.79 former WR, 9.80 and 9.82. … Added 2 Olympic gold medals to his five career World Champs golds at the 2000 Games in Sydney, winning the 100 and 4x100. With his medals around his neck, Greene was a contestant on the hit game show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,’ winning $125,000, half of which he donated to the United Negro College Fund ... got off to a quick start in 2001 by tying his WR for the indoor 60m with a time of 6.39 in the semifinals at the Pontiac Grand Prix USA Indoor Championships … Greene’s coach, John Smith, is the former 400m star...trains with Ato Boldon and Jon Drummond ...presented the winner’s trophy to Jennifer Capriatti at the 2001 French Open … threw out the first ball for the Kansas City Royals’ home opener in 1998...started running track at 8 years old...coached by his high school mentor, Al Hobson, until he started working with Smith in 1996. Hobson blessed the change; says Greene, ‘I contacted John because he is simply the best coach around,� said Greene. “You only have to look at what he has achieved to know how good he is. I wanted to be the best and California was the place to make it happen’ Web site: http://www.mogreene.com …1999 Jesse Owens Award winner…Greene’s home burned during the wildfires of Southern California in 2003. [/align]

[align=justify]2004: 1st in Olympic Trials 100m (9.91)…1st at Mt. SAC Relays (10.02)…2nd at Nike Prefontaine Classic (9.93)…1st in race 1 at Japan Grand Prix 100m (10.04)…1st in Payton Jordan US Open (9.78w) and Home Depot (9.86w).
2003: Did not run 200m final at USA Outdoors due to a sore knee…Did not compete in 100 due to having a bye into the World Championships, as defending champion… 8th in semifinal at World Outdoor Championships (10.37)…1st at adidas Boston Indoor Games (6.52)…1st at Home Depot Invitational Outdoors (9.94, U.S. Leader)…3rd at Oracle U.S. Open (20.43)…3rd at Golden Gala Rome race #1 (10.09)…1st at Mt. SAC 200 meters (20.16)…bests of 9.94 & 20.16…ranked #9 in the world (#4 U.S.) at 100m, #8 in the U.S. at 200m by T&FN.
2002: Won his third U.S. 100m title (9.88w)…ran 9.89 in winning at Rome on July 12…1st in Athens (9.97)…1st in Monaco (9.97)…ran 9.99 in semis at USA Outdoors…1st in Paris (9.99)…2nd in Oslo (10.06)…3rd in London (10.06)…ranked #3 in the world (#2 U.S.) by T&FN…best of 9.89.
2001: Won his third World 100m title in a row in the fastest time in the world in 2001, running the third-fastest time in history (9.82) despite a headwind of .2 meters per second and suffering an injury to his left quadriceps meters prior to the finish. The injury ended his season…also battled tendonitis in his knee throughout the year…USA Indoor 60m champ (6.51)…equaled his own 60m WR (6.39) in semifinal at U.S. Champs…ran 9.90 in opening round of U.S. Outdoor Nationals…1st in Athens 100m (9.91)…ranked #1 in the world at 100m by T&FN…best of 9.82.
2000: Won gold at Olympics in 100m (9.87), and 4x100m relay (4th leg)...won Olympic Trials 100 (10.01)...injured in 200 and did not finish...won 100 at Zurich Grand Prix in 9.94...won 100 at Rome Grand Prix in 9.97...ranked #1 in the world and U.S. in 100m, bests of 9.91 on May 13 at Osaka and 19.93w, 20.02.
1999: Triple gold medalist at World Champs; 100 (9.80CR), 200 (19.90) and 4x100 relay anchor (37.59)... first man ever to accomplish 100/200 sprint double at World Champs... only the fourth athlete in World Champs history to win three golds in a single meet... set 100m WR (9.79) on June 16 in Athens, Greece... won 200 (19.90w) at USA Outdoors ... gold at World Indoors (6.42)... tied 50 WR indoors (5.56)... 2nd in 60 at USA Indoors... 2nd in 200 at GP Final (19.90)... ranked #1 in world at 100 and 200 by T&FN... bests of 9.79WR, AR and 19.90.
1998: Set world indoor 60m record of 6.39 on February 3 in Madrid...undefeated indoors in four races... won the sprint double at the Prefontaine GP in 9.79 and 19.88, both wind-aided...ran 9.84w and 9.96 in the heats and semis of the USA champs but withdrew from the finals because of cramps...broke 10-seconds 10 times, eight of them with legal wind...ranked #1 in world at 100m by T&FN, #3 at 200 (#1 in U.S)...bests of 9.90 and 20.03.
1997: Gold at World Champs (9.86)... won 100 at USA Outdoors... 4th in 60 at USA Indoors... ranked #2 in world at 100m by T&FN (#1 in the U.S.)... best of 9.86 and 19.86.
1996: 7th in the quarterfinals at the Olympic Trials... best of 10.08.
1995: Placed 2nd in 100 at USA Outdoors...wind-aided 9.88 at the Texas Relays beat Carl Lewis... 6th in 100 quarterfinal at World Champs... legal best of 10.19.
1994: Pulled a hamstring badly while running for Kansas City CC.
1993: Bests of 10.43 and 21.00... won third straight Kansas HS state meet double at 100 & 200. [/align]
7/28/04

[align=left]Britney Speirs wrote: [/align][/align]

[align=center]

Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas is always a threat.The women won the 4x100 relay in Syndey I believe.bahamflag



The leading candidates for medals are Lorraine Fenton in the women's 400m and Kemel Thompson in the men's 400m hurdles. Fenton won silver at the past two world championships; Thompson was the second-fastest intermediate hurdler in 2003 (48.05 seconds). Other sprint contenders include 17-year-old Usain Bolt (men's 200m), Michael Blackwood (men's 400m), Aleen Bailey (women's 100m), Beverly McDonald (200m), and Brigitte Foster (100m hurdles). James Beckford, the 1996 Olympic silver medalist in the long jump, resurrected his career with a silver medal at last year's World Championships. If healthy, he should contend for a medal. Germaine Mason also has an outside s at a medal in the high jump.jamflag


Kim Collins is the reigning world champion in the 100m, a wide-open event that could produce the first Olympic medal for St. Kitts and Nevis.