Asafa Powell

Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell at the ISTAF 2006
nation	Jamaica
birthday	November 23, 1982
place of birth	Linstead ,  Jamaica
size	190 cm
Weight	88 kg
Career
discipline	100 m , 4 × 100 m relay
society	Fast Twitch Factory MVP Track & Field Club (until 2013)
Trainer	Donavan Powell Steven Francis (until 2013)
status	active
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 0 × World championships 2 × 1 × 2 × Indoor World Cup 0 × 1 × 0 × Commonwealth Games 2 × 1 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4 × 100 m  World championships bronze 2007 Osaka 100 m silver 2007 Osaka 4 × 100 m bronze 2009 Berlin 100 m gold 2009 Berlin 4 × 100 m gold 2015 Beijing 4 × 100 m  Indoor world championships silver 2016 Portland 60 m  Commonwealth Games silver 2002 Melbourne 4 × 100 m gold 2006 Melbourne 100 m gold 2006 Melbourne 4 × 100 m
last change: August 22, 2016

Asafa Powell (born November 23, 1982 in Linstead , Saint Catherine Parish ) is a Jamaican athlete . He is a former world record holder in the 100 meter run . His official best time of 9.72 s makes him the fourth fastest sprinter of all time behind Usain Bolt , Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake .

At the Jamaican Championships in June 2013 Powell tested positive for the stimulant Oxilofrin and was then banned from competition for 18 months. The International Court of Justice reduced the suspension to six months in July 2014 after Powell called him in April saying the length of the suspension was unfair.

Life

Asafa Powell was born on November 23, 1982 in Linstead in Saint Catherine Parish as the youngest of six sons of William Powell (* 1946) and Cislin Joyce Powell (* 1951). Both of Powell's parents are pastors of a denominational church in Linstead. Powell attended Charlemount High School in St. Catherine. There his talent was noticed by the teacher Elaine Fraser, who helped him realize his potential as a sprinter. Powell saw his future in football at the time. Powell's interest in the 100-meter race was sparked in 2000 when his eldest brother Donovan Powell took part in the Olympic Games. In 2001 Powell began to train seriously for athletics. In the same year Powell joined the MVP Track & Field Club , the track and field club at Kingston University of Technology , where he studied electrical engineering. Powell was trained there by the head of the club, Stephen Francis, until a dispute triggered by the doping affair parted their ways in 2013.

At the beginning of his career, Powell had to cope with severe strokes of fate. In June 2002, his second oldest brother, Michael, was shot and killed by a passenger while he was driving a taxi in New York City . In June 2003, Powell's brother Vaun suffered a heart attack while playing football and died. Powell is very religious and often stresses how much power the Bible gives him.

He is under contract with sports agent Paul Doyle and was sponsored by Nike as a supplier until 2011 , on July 26, 2011 he signed a contract with the Chinese sporting goods manufacturer Li-Ning , which was terminated on July 18, 2013 after the positive doping tests became public. His sponsorship deal with NUTRILITE ended in late 2008.

Powell has lived in Austin (Texas) since 2013 , where he trains with his brother Donovan.

Athletic career

2001

Powell was Jamaica junior champion in 2001 on his home island in the 100-meter run.

2003

He made his debut at major championships at the World Championships in Paris in 2003. In the quarter-finals of the 100-meter run, he was disqualified for false starts because the start electronics reported a reaction time below the permitted mark for him and the American Jon Drummond . With the Jamaican 4 x 100 meter relay, he finished seventh. A week later, Powell ran the 100 meters in a personal best of 10.02 s in the Golden League -Meeting Memorial Van Damme in Brussels. Powell ended the season disappointingly with a seventh place over the 100 meters at the first IAAF world final .

2004

In 2004 Powell was the first time in a 100-meter run under 10 seconds. On June 12, 2004 Powell ran a time of 9.99 s over the 100 meters in his home town of Kingston. With another personal best of 9.91 s, the Powell at the IAAF Super Grand Prix -Meeting Norwich Union London Grand Prix ran, he became a favorite on the 100 meters for the Athens Olympic Games . In Athens Powell shone in almost all races. He ran a time of less than 10 seconds in both the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, although he did not complete the 100 meters. In the final, however, after a weak start, he was only fifth in 9.94 s. At the Memorial Van Damme meeting on September 3, 2004, Powell ran under 9.9 seconds for the first time. At the end of the season Powell was able to record a great success in 2004 by winning the 100-meter run at the IAAF World Final in Monaco on September 18, 2004. It was noteworthy that with a headwind of more than one and a half meters per second it remained under 10 seconds.

2005

Early on in the 2005 track and field season, Powell made his ambitions for the world record clear. In Kingston Powell ran the 100 meters in 9.84 s on May 7, 2005 (with a regular tail wind of 1.8 meters per second) and was the third fastest person over this distance up to that point. It was remarkable that he achieved this time in spite of a loose run in the last meters and thus left a possible world record time on the track. In Ostrava, Powell ran at the Golden Spike Meeting on June 9, 2005 despite rain and cool temperatures for 9.85 s with a slight tail wind. Just a few days earlier on June 4, 2005, Powell lost a very close race against Justin Gatlin . In Eugene (USA) both athletes crossed the finish line in 9.84 s with too much tailwind.

Powell then came to Athens with the aim of improving the current world record of 9.78 s set by Tim Montgomery, who is suspected of doping . On June 14, 2005 Powell managed to achieve this goal. In the final of the IAAF Super Grand Prix at the Olympic Stadium in Athens , Powell beat Montgomery's time by a hundredth of a second with a time of 9.77 (9.768) s. At the IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting Norwich Union London Grand Prix on July 22, 2005, where Powell, the reigning world record holder, and Justin Gatlin , the reigning Olympic champion, came, Powell pulled a muscle tear in the adductor area. Handicapped by this injury, Powell had to cancel the World Championships in Helsinki .

2006

In 2006, he equaled his own world record twice. First on June 11th at the Super Grand Prix in Gateshead (Norwich Union British Grand Prix) in June 2006, despite a leisurely run down and previous false starts and then on August 18th, 2006 at Weltklasse Zürich (with a tailwind of 1.0 meters per second). However, Justin Gatlin also scored the same time. Gatlin ran the 100 meters in 9.766 s in Doha on May 12, 2006. The time of 9.76 s was given by the organizer, which would have been a new world record. However, rule 165.23 (a) of the IAAF states that if time is not accurate to one hundredth, it must be rounded up to the nearest hundredth. Therefore Gatlin's time was rounded up to 9.77 s and was thus a setting of the world record. Powell himself ran in the two settings of his record 9.7629 s in Gateshead and 9.762 s in Zurich. To set a new world record of 9.76 s, one of the two athletes would have had to run a time between 9.760 and 9.751 s.

In addition to the victories against the clock, Powell also had a number of sporting successes in the 2006 season. Powell won the 100 meters at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and also won gold in the relay. Powell's success in the IAAF Golden League was also prestigious . Like Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards , Powell won all six Golden League meetings. Powell received a total of $ 249,999 for this sporting achievement. Powell also won the IAAF world finals in Stuttgart .

Together with sports greats such as Roger Federer , Michael Schumacher and Tiger Woods , Powell was nominated for the honor of World Sportsman of the Year and in November 2006 was named World Athlete of the Year - an honor combined with a check for 100,000 US dollars. The decisive factor for this was probably that in 2006 he stayed under 10 seconds a total of twelve times and thus set a new record. He also remained undefeated in all 16 races.

2007

Asafa Powell (right in yellow) at the 2007 World Championships

Powell started the 2007 athletics season cautiously. With times of 9.97 s in Belgrade on May 29, 2007 and 9.94 s at the Golden League Meeting Bislett Games on June 15, 2007, Powell was initially behind his old form. In addition, Powell injured himself in the final of the 100 meter run of the Jamaican Championship in Kingston on June 23, 2007. Powell won the run in 10.04 s but suffered a thigh strain on the last meters. Powell then reported back at the Golden League meeting in Rome with the second fastest time of the season. It ran for 9.90 seconds at the traditional Golden Gala .

At the season highlight of the World Championships in Osaka Powell convinced in the elimination races, quarter-finals and semi-finals, but could not save his outstanding form in the final. Powell didn’t get past a time of 9.96 s and surprisingly finished only third behind Tyson Gay (USA) and Derrick Atkins (Bahamas). Powell was already in the lead right from the start and was even able to extend it at 60 meters, Gay, on the other hand, started moderately, but came up really well in the end. This is made clear by an analysis of the passage times of the race, which was made as part of an IAAF project :

space	runner	RZ	10 m	20 m	30 m	40 m	50 m	60 m	70 m	80 m	90 m	100 m	Max. Speed	Max. Speed ​​section
1	Tyson Gay	0.143	1.90	2.94	3.86	4.73	5.59	6.44	7.28	8.13	8.99	9.85	42.59 km / h	60-70 m
2	Derrick Atkins	0.137	1.90	2.92	3.87	4.75	5.62	6.47	7.33	8.18	9.04	9.91	42.26 km / h	50-60 m
3	Asafa Powell	0.145	1.87	2.91	3.83	4.71	5.57	6.42	7.28	8.15	9.03	9.96	42.44 km / h	50-60 m

Unexpectedly, Powell tensed up towards the end of the race and lost several meters in the last third to the rest of the field. He finally walked upright across the line, clearly disappointed. After this bitter disappointment, Powell helped the Jamaican 4 x 100 meter relay with a new national record of 37.89 s to silver.

To get over the World Championships, which Powell was undoubtedly a disappointment, he wanted to improve his own world record as early as the 2007 season. Just two weeks after the botched final in Osaka, Powell made himself the sole world record holder in the 100 meters in Rieti, Italy : On September 9, 2007 Powell unexpectedly ran the fabulous time of 9.74 s in the second run of the sports festival. He had an almost optimal tailwind of 1.7 meters per second, but he left a few hundredths of a second on the track because he did not fully complete the last 10 meters due to his large lead. In the final, Powell stayed under 9.8 seconds for the fifth time with a total of 9.78 seconds.

Five days after his world record run, Powell won the prestigious Golden League meeting in Brussels for the fourth time. Powell won the 100 meters at Memorial Van Damme in a time of 9.84 s with a light headwind. At the IAAF World Finals in Stuttgart on September 22, 2007 Powell was able to repeat his previous year's victory. He won the 100 meters with a new championship record of 9.83 s. Powell ended the season with two 200-meter runs in the Far East. At the first run in Shanghai on September 28, 2007 Powell narrowly missed his personal best with 20.00 s. In the last run on September 30, 2007 in Yokohama , Powell ended the season with an injury.

2008

Powell wanted to start the 2008 Olympic year with two races in Australia . The first run in Sydney on February 16, 2008, he had to cancel due to injury. Powell tore his knee while climbing stairs that had to be sewn with four stitches. Powell was able to heal this injury very quickly, so that he was able to take part in the second run the following week. He completed the 100-meter run at the IAAF Grand Prix Meeting in Melbourne, the Telstra Melbourne Track Classic on February 21, 2008, in 10.04 seconds, thus setting a new meeting record. In April Powell sustained a chest muscle injury and was sidelined for two months. He had his planned starts at the IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting in Doha, the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix 2008 on May 9, at the IAAF Grand Prix Meeting in Eugene, the Prefontaine Classic on June 8, as well as at the two Golden League Meetings DKB-ISTAF in Berlin on June 1st and Bislett Games in Oslo on June 6th.

Powell lost his world record in late May. Ironically, a compatriot, the Jamaican Usain Bolt , took the world record away from him when he ran the Reebok Grand Prix on May 31, 2008 at the IAAF Grand Prix Meeting in New York City for a time of 9.72 s. Powell got back into the 2008 athletics season relatively late. For the first time after the two-month injury break, he started as a guest starter at the national championships of Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain on June 21, 2008. There Powell ran the fastest time of 9.96 s in the semifinals, in pouring rain, and then decided not to take part in the final. Six days later Powell starts at the Jamaican National Championships, which were also the qualification for the Olympic Games. In the first lap, Powell ran a time of 9.90 s despite a loose run-out and thus confirmed his good form. In the final one day later, Powell and the new world record holder Bolt met. Bolt won this run in 9.85 s, ahead of Powell, who slowed down about 30 meters from the finish and rolled leisurely into the finish in 9.97 s.

Powell had his next start at the Golden League meeting in Rome, the Golden Gala on July 11, 2008. There he had to give up in the elimination race for the final due to groin problems. At the IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting in Stockholm the DN Galan on July 22, 2008, there was a duel between Powell and Bolt. With a good start, Powell won the race in 9.88 s, a wafer-thin one hundredth of a second ahead of Bolt. Powell also won the Aviva London Grand Prix at the IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting in London on July 25, 2008. In this meeting there was to be a clash with the world champion Tyson Gay, who had to cancel his start due to injury. Powell completed his last 100-meter run before the Olympic Games at the IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting in Monaco the Herculis on July 29, 2008. Powell achieved a best time of the season of 9.82 s in calm conditions.

At the Olympic Games in Beijing, Powell decided not to start over the unpopular 200-meter distance and, unlike his competitor Bolt, only started over the 100 meters and in the 4-by-100-meter relay. In the individual race he had to be satisfied with 5th place with a time of 9.95 s, while Bolt improved the world record to 9.69 s. In the season, however, he was able to win his long-awaited first major title as the final runner with Jamaica and together with Bolt and became Olympic champion in a new world record time of 37.10 s. The medal was the Jamaican relay team in January 2017 retroactively from the IOC stripped after retests had proved Doping Report starter for Carter. With 8.70 s for his 100 meters, Powell had run the fastest time ever recorded over this distance.

On September 2, 2008, he ran at the Athletissima in Lausanne with 9.72 seconds, the fourth-fastest 100-meter race of all time.

Powell won the 2009 World Championships relay with Frater, Bolt and Mullings

2009

On January 31, Powell started the season at the Grace Jackson Invitational in Kingston, where he ran the 400-meter distance for 47.75 s and won his run. On February 14th, he took part in two relays as the final runner for his MVP team. The MVP Track & Field Club won the 4 x 100 meter relay in 38.72 seconds, as did the 4 x 400 meter relay. At the Sydney Track Classics he won the Jamaican relay in 38.62 s and a little later he set a new personal best over 400 meters with 45.94 s. Five days later, he started over 100 meters for the first time at the Melbourne Track Classic . With a world best for the year of 10.23 s, he won easily.

He had to cancel his attendance at the next meetings in Philadelphia and Doha because he was plagued by problems with his ankle. At the Reebok Grand Prix in New York - his first competition since the injury - he was not in the best of shape with 10.10 seconds. Even on June 7th, he did not run under 10 seconds in Eugene despite a second place. On June 27, he qualified behind Usain Bolt for the 2009 World Championships at the Jamaican Championships . He won the Bislett Games in Oslo and the Athletissima in Lausanne in 10.07 s each. On July 10th he ran a new season best with 9.88 seconds in Rome, but had to admit defeat to Tyson Gay . At the World Championships he easily qualified for the finals, but here, too, a further increase to 9.84 s was not enough to win. Bolt ran a world record time with 9.58 s and Gay also finished ahead of him with 9.71 s. On August 24, he won relay gold with Steve Mullings , Michael Frater and Usain Bolt with a time of 37.31 s.

At Weltklasse Zürich four days later he was beaten again by Bolt with 9.88 seconds. On September 4th, he won the Van Damme Memorial in 9.90 seconds ahead of Tyson Gay . This was followed by a victory in Rieti, a second place against Gay in Thessaloniki and on September 15, with 9.82 seconds, a new best time of the season in Szczecin . He finished his season at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix with a second place behind Tyson Gay in 9.85 s.

2010

Asafa Powell at the Bislett Games

This year it only ran five times in permitted winds of less than 10 seconds, but at the beginning of the year it won the three Diamond League meetings in Doha, Rome and Oslo. Only in Paris and Birmingham did he have to admit defeat to Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay. His 9.72 seconds at the Bislett Games in Oslo were not recognized as the world best of the year due to the strong tailwind.

2011

On April 16, Asafa Powell started his season with a 200-meter run in Kingston - a rather unusual distance for him - in which he came in third behind Yohan Blake and Daniel Bailey .

In May he ran under the 10-second mark for the first time of the year at the Shanghai Grand Prix and won with 9.95 seconds. At his next Diamond League participation in Rome, however, he had to admit defeat to his Jamaican colleague Usain Bolt with a gap of two hundredths of a second . Only at the seventh Diamond League meeting on June 30th in Lausanne did he win again and set the new world annual best of 9.78 s with a tailwind of 1.0 meters per second . A week earlier, he had also won the 100 meters at the Athletics Championships in Jamaica for the fifth time. He ran 10.08 s in a headwind of 1.8 m / s, relegating Yohan Blake and Steve Mullings to their places. The duel he had hoped for and Usain Bolt did not take place.

On July 10th, he secured the 100-meter victory at the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham . He ran the distance in 9.91 s and won ahead of Nesta Carter and Michael Frater .

As the world's best of the year, Asafa Powell canceled his 100-meter start at the World Championships in Daegu due to an injury. On August 25, colleague Michael Frater confirmed the withdrawal from journalists. Powell had surprisingly been absent from a press conference for the Jamaican Association. However, he announced that he would come back stronger at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

In Weltklasse Zürich , Powell's first competition since his injury, he finished second with 9.95 seconds, but was able to secure victory in the overall standings of the Diamond League and received a bonus of 40,000 dollars.

2012

Asafa Powell (2012)

In January he started the new season for the first time in eight years with an indoor competition. In New York's Madison Square Garden , he won the 50-meter distance ahead of his compatriot Nesta Carter with the fastest time since 2005: 5.64 seconds. In February he ran in Birmingham with 6.50 seconds over the 60 meters only in third place behind Lerone Clarke and Nesta Carter. He set new personal bests over both distances. In March he also announced that he would be participating in the two Diamond League meetings in Rome and Oslo , where he would meet world record holder Usain Bolt. In mid-April he participated in the UTECH Classics in the National Stadium of Kingston part. With his season he came in second place with 38.27 s.

He suffered his first defeat of the season at the first Diamond League meeting in Doha: With 9.88 seconds, he was one hundredth of a second slower than the American Justin Gatlin and thus only came second ahead of Lerone Clarke . A week later on May 19, he defended his title at the Golden Grand Prix in Shanghai. In a light headwind, he crossed the finish line with 10.02 seconds ahead of Rodgers and Carter. As in the previous year, he had to admit defeat to Usain Bolt in Rome . With 9.91 s he crossed the finish line in second place and was able to further extend the lead in the Diamond League standings. Also on June 7th at the fifth Diamond League meeting he was only second behind Bolt. This time, however, he was only overtaken in the last few meters and with 9.85 s was only 6 hundredths of a second slower than his compatriot. At the Jamaican Trials he qualified third for the Olympic Games in London . After a strong start, he crossed the finish line with 9.88 seconds behind Blake and Bolt. He canceled his start at the Diamond League meeting in London at short notice, "he has pain in the groin and does not want to take any risks". As the first of his run in round 1 and with 9.94 s as third of his run in the semifinals, he qualified for the final of the Olympic Games . There he was able to keep up with the favorites for the first 50 meters, but then tensed up and had to break off his sprint. With 11.99 s he was the last to cross the finish line and was thus without a single medal in his third Olympic participation. He canceled his start for the 4 x 100 meter relay due to an injury, in the 100 meter final he suffered an adductor injury in his left leg. After that he had to end his season early.

2013

On February 10, he ran at the Milo Western Relays in Montego Bay together with his teammates from MVP Winston Barnes, Nesta Carter and Roman Nichol in the relay competition with 38.62 s to first place. On March 30th, he made his first individual start after his injury in August 2012. In the traditional Australia Post Stawell Gift lawn race , in which the participants can set up their starting blocks at a distance of between 110 and 120 meters from the finish, he was the only one to compete over the entire 120 meters in the heats. With 12.32 s he crossed the finish line in third place, but he contracted a hardened thigh and therefore canceled the semifinals and later also for a meeting in Melbourne. In mid-May he made his comeback at a local meeting in Kingston to test his own form, but then stopped the sprint after 30 meters due to pain in his thigh.

In June he started at the Jamaican championships to qualify for the World Cup in Moscow . In the first more serious competition after his injury on June 20, he was the first of his heat to cross the finish line with a relaxed 10.02 seconds. In the semifinals one day later, the month-long injury could be seen, with problems he qualified for the final with 10.05 seconds. Here he couldn't keep up with the other favorites right from the start and was ultimately disappointed seventh with 10.22 seconds. On June 27th he started at the Ostrava Golden Spike . In the first run, Kemar Hyman made an early start , but the shot was overheard by the majority of the field of participants, which is why Powell sprinted the full 100 meters and initially claimed victory after 9.97 s. In the re-run he also won, this time in 10.06 s. His first official time under 10 seconds was on July 4th in Lausanne . With 9.88 s he was second behind Tyson Gay .

On July 14, 2013 it was announced that Powell had tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrin in an A sample . The sprinter said the sample was from the Jamaican championships in June. After he was initially banned from the Jamaican Federation for 18 months, the International Court of Justice reduced the ban to six months in July 2014.

2014

He made his comeback after his forced break at the Lucerne lace meeting . With 10.30 s he at least fell short of public expectations and finished fourth in his run. He was able to improve his season best in the next two races to 10.15 s in Heusden-Zolder and 10.02 s in Belém, which brought him back to the top ten in the world. With 9.87 seconds at a small meeting in Austin , he catapulted himself to third place on the world's best list of the year. Within eleven days, he took part in two IAAF World Challenge meetings and two Diamond League meetings at the end of the season . In Zurich and Zagreb he ran 10.07 seconds each, in Brussels and Rieti he stayed under 10 seconds, which allowed him to run some of the fastest times of the year despite a very short season.

2015

Powell (second from left) in the 100 meter final of the 2015 World Championships

With a start of 9.84 s at the IAAF World Challeng Meetings in Kingston, Powell caused a stir early on. He was able to confirm his strong early form later. First he secured victory in the national championships with 9.84 s and participation in the World Championships in Beijing , then he won the Paris meeting in Areva in 9.81 s and in Lucerne and Bellinzona in 9.87 s each. This prompted him and his coach to give him a chance at his first individual gold medal. In the preliminary and semi-finals of the world championships Powell presented himself with 9.95 s and 9.97 s. In the final he was disappointed seventh in 10.00 s. Six days later he was the second runner of the 4 x 100 meter relay with the cast of Carter, Powell, Ashmeade and Bolt in the final. The Americans, who were still leading in the last corner, took the chance of victory with a mistake, so that Powell was able to win his second gold medal after the relay gold in Berlin 2009.

2016

Powell after winning gold with the relay at the 2016 Olympics

Two indoor competitions in the USA, his new training location, brought Powell temporarily to the top of the world's annual best list over 60 meters with 6.49 seconds. At the World Indoor Championships in Portland , he ran 6.44 seconds each in the preliminary and semi-finals - the fastest time in seven years and only five hundredths of a second above Greene's world record. In the final he once again lacked his ease and was only second behind Trayvon Bromell in 6.50 seconds.

At the Jamaican Championships, he missed a qualification for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in fourth . For the season he was still considered set. Before the Olympics, he completed two races, in Székesfehérvár and Houston, which he finished with 9.92 s and 10.05 s. In 37.27 s he won the Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro with the relay of Yohan Blake , Nickel Ashmeade and Usain Bolt, as in Beijing in 2008.

doping

Transfer and processes

On July 14, 2013 it became public that Powell tested positive for a doping drug in an A-sample in June. In the course of the controls, four other teammates, including sprinter Sherone Simpson , were convicted of doping. According to his manager Paul Doyle, the prohibited agent is the stimulant Oxilofrin , which was later officially confirmed. In a statement Powell denied having intentionally ingested and knowingly doped the substance. Contrary to initial reports by the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner , his fitness trainer Christopher Xuereb is said to have not been arrested by the police in Rome during a raid on the club's Italian training camp. Powell had previously given the police funds that the trainer is said to have given him. Fitness trainer Xuereb denied Powell's manager Paul Doyle's allegations that he provided his athlete with illegal substances. He accused Powell and the also doped Sherone Simpson of looking for a scapegoat. Powell's coach Steven Francis criticized not only the conditioning coach, but also the manager Paul Doyle and his athletes themselves. He accused him of loneliness and contact with the wrong people, such as the physician Anthony Galea, whom Powell had visited before the 2012 Olympic Games in Toronto on the advice of his agent. In 2011, Galea introduced wrongly labeled drugs - such as growth hormones - to the United States. In a press conference on July 24th, Powell emphasized again that he had only tested positive because of contaminated dietary supplements and denied thoughts of retiring.

The analysis of the B-sample was also positive, as the Jamaican anti-doping agency JADCO reported on September 6th. At the first hearing before the Anti-Doping Commission on January 14, 2014, he stated again that he had received the dietary supplements from Xuereb and that he had not informed JADCO about the names of most of the products due to ignorance. The trial was postponed until February 12th and finally February 26th, when his lawyers made their final defense. The verdict was finally passed on April 10, 2014. Accordingly, Powell was found guilty of negligence and retrospectively banned for 18 months, which meant that he could only participate in competitions after December 20, 2014. The sprinter announced that he would not accept the decision and would take it to the CAS Sports Court. This gave Powell a temporary take-off permit in June before his ban was reduced to six months on July 14.

In addition, his coach Francis asked him in August 2013 to leave the MVP Track Club or to end the contract with manager Paul Doyle. Powell decided to continue working with Doyle and has been training with his brother Donovan in the US ever since.

Public reaction

The first consequences followed on July 18, 2013. His supplier and main sponsor Li-Ning canceled the joint contract with immediate effect.

Powell's announcement of positive doping tests coincided with that of US sprinter Tyson Gay . Its samples come from a control during training. Since both were considered to be permanent fixtures in the athletics world, the sport's credibility was badly damaged. Athletes like the German pole vaulter Holzdeppe demanded life-long bans and the German sprint legend Armin Hary even spoke of a cancellation of all sprint world records.

Physical requirements and running style

Powell is 1.90 m tall and weighs 88 kg. Its explosive start, which is unusual for its size, coupled with a short reaction time - with an average of 14 hundredths of a second, it is below average - ensures that it leads from the start in many races. His long legs then give him a mechanical advantage, his maximum stride length is 2.60 meters. Even so, its strength lies more in cadence than in stride length. Many comparably fast, smaller sprinters achieve higher maximum stride lengths. When running - especially when starting - Powell, unlike most other sprinters, places his metatarsus on the ground in order to collect the maximum push-off force. During the 10 meter start phase, his average ground contact per step is 19 hundredths of a second, which is extremely high for a sprinter. As a result, it accelerates to 10.5 kilometers per hour after the first contact with the ground and is therefore usually faster than all competitors. But so that he does not lose valuable hundredths of a second through his long contact with the ground, he keeps the return and stepping phase of the legs as short as possible. This technique is considered extremely difficult and to master it one has to muster enormous strength. His psoas major muscle , which is responsible for lifting the leg for the next step, has a cross-sectional area that is four times larger than normal. In addition, his tendons are extremely hard: Normally, a grown man needs 43 kilograms of muscle strength to stretch the tendons even one centimeter, but Powell 114 kilograms. These hard tendons ensure that the force, which is stored elastically, is released with every step. Asafa Powell normally reaches his top speed at around 60 meters; his step frequency, which increases after the start, reaches almost five steps per second.

When he is under pressure, he often suffers from co-activation and cramping during important competitions, such as racing. B. at the 2007 World Championships. There he let himself be distracted by Tyson Gay and panicked, his stride length was 20 centimeters shorter than usual. Usually the front and rear leg muscles contract alternately, but at that time both happened at the same time because he was trying to get out of pure Willpower to run faster, with his brain interfering with signals from his spine. Also at the final of the Olympic Games in London 2012 he cramped in the middle of the race and had to stop his sprint.

Records

In addition to his former world records, Powell also set other records over the 100 meters. Powell has already completed 88 runs with a permissible tailwind under 10 seconds, which puts him ahead of Maurice Greene (53 times). He also undercut the 9.9 second mark most often with 41 times so far, followed by Usain Bolt , who managed this twenty-nine times , and Tyson Gay , who ran under 9.9 seconds nineteen times . Powell is also the first sprinter to run under 10 seconds more than ten times in one season (2006). At the end of the 2004 season he held together with Maurice Greene and Frank Fredericks the record with nine runs under 10 seconds in one season. Until 2012, he was also the runner with the most races under 9.8 seconds, which he has achieved eight times to date, followed by Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, who did so seven times. But then he was overtaken by Bolt, who now has eleven runs.

With 8.70 seconds for his 100 meters in the 4 x 100 meter relay finals of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , he also ran the fastest time ever recorded over this distance. In May 2015, Usain Bolt took over from him in this respect by finishing his 100 meters in 8.65 s as the final runner at the World Relays .

statistics

Awards

• 2008: " World Team of the Year " - 4 x 100 meter relay with Usain Bolt , Nesta Carter and Michael Frater ( La Gazzetta dello Sport )

Web links

Commons : Asafa Powell  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Asafa Powell in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Official website of Asafa Powell
• Detailed statistics on Asafa Powell at tilastopaja.org
• Meet the fastest man ever , report by Alex Bilmes in Observer Sport Monthly , April 6, 2008

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Asafa Powell data
2. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell with a bang in Kingston , May 8, 2005
3. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell gambled away the world record , May 10, 2005
4. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell underlines claims in Ostrava , June 9, 2005
5. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Justin Gatlin wins tight sprint duel in Eugene , June 5, 2005
6. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell runs a new 100 meter world record! June 14, 2005
7. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell sets the world record again , June 11, 2006
8. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell sets a world record in Zurich , August 18, 2006
9. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: 100 meter world record only set , May 17, 2006
10. ^ IAAF: Sun shines on Powell's World record equalling 9.77 in Gateshead ( Memento June 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), June 11, 2006
11. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Six jackpot winners at the finals in Berlin , September 3, 2006
12. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: The World Athletes of the Year , November 12, 2006
13. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell reports back impressively , July 23, 2007
14. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: First scanning over 100 meters , August 25, 2007
15. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: 100 meters - strength or certainty? August 26, 2007
16. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Tyson Gay is the fastest man in the world , August 26, 2007
17. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell's world record demonstration , September 9, 2007
18. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell impresses himself , September 22, 2007
19. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell injured in Yokohama , September 30, 2007
20. ↑ rp-online.de: Powell injured himself when climbing stairs  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ,   February 12, 2008
21. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell brings Melbourne meeting record , February 21, 2008
22. ↑ focus.de: Chest muscle injury stops world record holder Powell , April 29, 2008
23. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell is back , June 22, 2008
24. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: 9.90 - Asafa Powell marks the area in the preliminary run , June 28, 2008
25. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Jamaica's sprint cup prepared for US stars , June 29, 2008
26. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Asafa Powell injured , July 11, 2008
27. ↑ nzz.ch: Duell Gay - Powell burst , July 25, 2008
28. ↑ focus.de: Powell in Olympia-Form , July 29, 2008
29. ^ IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008. International Olympic Committee , January 25, 2017, accessed April 21, 2018 . 
30. ^ Faz.net: Asafa Powell: Schnell oder weg , August 7, 2011
31. ↑ nzz.ch: Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt overwhelming , September 2, 2008
32. ↑ yahoo.com: Jamaica's Sprint Stars Take Title , June 25, 2011
33. ↑ telegraph.co.uk: Asafa Powell ruled out of men's 100m final at IAAF World Athletics Championships ., August 25, 2011
34. ↑ iaaf.org: Bolt and Blake open their seasons over 400m in Kingston , February 10, 2013
35. ↑ stawellgift.com: Post Stawell Gift results list
36. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Flash news from April 1, 2013 , April 1, 2013
37. ↑ Thomas Hahn: Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell tested positive. In: sueddeutsche.de. July 14, 2013, accessed July 15, 2013 . 
38. ↑ ntv.de: Sprint stars suspected of doping: Gay and Powell tested positive , July 14, 2013 (accessed July 15, 2013)
39. ↑ focus.de: Doping scandal surrounding former world record holder: Asafa Powell's coach arrested in Italy , July 15, 2013 (accessed on July 15, 2013)
40. ↑ focus.de: Asafa Powell's agent accuses fitness trainer , July 16, 2013 (accessed on July 18, 2013)
41. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Doping cases: Nesta Carter exonerated , July 17, 2013 (accessed on July 18, 2013)
42. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: "The inspectors are so far behind" , July 19, 2013 (accessed on July 19, 2013)
43. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: All athletes take vitamins , July 26, 2013 (accessed on August 2, 2013)
44. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: "Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson: The B samples are also positive" , September 6, 2013 (accessed on September 9, 2013)
45. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten: Decision in Powell case postponed , January 16, 2014 (accessed January 17, 2014)
46. ↑ Asafa Powell prefers CAS: doping ban «unjust» . Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 11, 2014, archived from the original on April 11, 2014 . 
47. ↑ spiegel.de: Cas reduces suspension for Sprinter Powell , July 14, 2014 (accessed on July 16, 2014)
48. ↑ jamaica-gleaner.com: I rely on Paul Doyle - Powell did not tell coach about new supplements , January 15, 2014 (accessed September 7, 2014)
49. ↑ jamaica-star.com: Asafa Powell pleased with 9.87 tune-up run  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 25, 2014 (accessed September 7, 2014)  
50. ↑ spiegel.de: Sprint star caught: doping offender Powell loses sponsors , July 18, 2013 (accessed on July 18, 2013)
51. ↑ Akira Ito, Koji Fukuda, Kota Kijima: Analysis of Gay and Powell in the 2007 World Cup final (accessed on January 27, 2015)
52. ↑ ^{a b} Yoriko Koizumi, Miracle Body (In the body of a top athlete), documentary from the National Film Board of Canada and NHK Japan, 2008