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This comparision between Asafa and Herb on the track is fantastic.
Created on Friday, 11 May 2012 04:29 | Written by By Peter Forbes, Contributor |
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As the London Olympics approaches, and assuming he qualifies for Jamaica's 100 meters men's team, Asafa Powell will undoubtedly be entering the arena that has been most unkind to him. In his only two Olympic appearances in the 100 meters, Powell placed 5th in Athens 2004, followed by another 5th place finish in Beijing 2008.
>Powell entered the 2004 staging as one of the favorites along with Justin Gatlin and Maurice Greene, but fell apart in the final. Four years later in Beijing, he again finished 5th, a particularly disappointing result when you consider he easily ran 9.91 seconds to win the 2nd semi-final, a time that would have given him at least a share of the bronze medal, and a time much slower than his then personal best of 9.74 seconds.
Another wasted opportunity for Powell came in 2007 at the Osaka World Championships, a meet he entered as favorite and world record holder. After leading at 60 meters, his form failed him and he faded to third behind eventual winner Tyson Gay and silver medalist Derrick Atkins.
One wonders if Powell's results on the track would have been different, if as an up and coming sprinter at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, he had not false-started in heat 2 of the quarterfinals. In the preliminary heats, Powell won in 10.05 seconds beating eventual World Champion Kim Collins in that heat. Collins' winning time in the final was 10.07 seconds.
In 2003, Powell was a little known sprinter with virtually no pressure or unreasonable expectations. What would his career have looked like after Paris had he won there? Did this unfortunate event have an impact on his legacy? In all likelihood, he would have competed in the years to follow under far less scrutiny.
With a powerful start and the most nimble feet ever of any sprinter his size, Powell took the sprinting world by storm in 2002 under the watchful eyes of MVP club founder and technical director Stephen Francis. A diamond in the rough to say the least, Powell had what could be described as a very ordinary high school career, winning nothing of note, and evoking none of the memories of his older brother Donovan, whose high school exploits, ten years earlier, suggested super stardom at the senior level. It was not to be for the older Powell, but the younger Powell exceeded all expectations and achieved far more than any prudent man would have expected.
To be in the presence of Powell is to like him. Very soft spoken and humble with a pleasant disposition, it is very easy to root for him. He has exhibited great sportsmanship in the face of mounting disappointments and sometimes ridicule from his own people. His sprinting style is very easy on the eyes, truly poetry in motion, and he is as technically sound a sprinter as the world of athletics has ever seen.
However, on the eve of the London Games, Powell is flirting perilously with the distinction of being a multiple world record holder who has never won individual gold at a major championship meet. This is the legacy of the late great Herb McKenley, who was Jamaica's most influential athletics superstar not named Usain Bolt, and Australian distance great Ron Clarke, who set an astounding 12 world records in 1965 alone. As with McKenley, Clarke never won gold in the Olympic Games, nor in the Commonwealth Games, which was then considered an event of great distinction. Indeed, Powell has won gold in the Commonwealth Games over 100 meters in 2006, but these games have declined in relevance since the beginning of the World Championships era in 1983, and will forever be known as the Games in which America does not compete.
Powell's contribution to the world of sprinting is without debate. Discussing his accomplishments in terms of sub-10 second 100 meters doesn't paint the entire picture. He has accomplished that feat a mere 74 times. He has run sub 9.90 seconds 34 times, and sub 9.80 seconds 8 times. By comparison to currently active sprinting greats, Tyson Gay, who is 3 months older than Powell, has run sub-10 seconds 27 times, sub-9.90 seconds 15 times, and sub-9.80 seconds 7 times; while Usain Bolt has run sub-10 seconds 26 times, sub-9.90 seconds 20 times, and sub-9.80 seconds 7 times. In other words, Powell has eclipsed the 10 seconds barrier on 21 more occasions than Bolt and Gay combined, and the 9.90 second barrier one less time than both together. Truly remarkable when you consider the pressure and intense scrutiny under which today's sprinters perform.
Unfortunately for Powell, history is unkind when judging the greats. Greatness is normally reserved for those who win major championship gold. Powell can claim two gold medals in the 4x100m relays from the Beijing Olympics and the Berlin World Championships, but has never claimed gold at a major championship in the 100 meters which begs the question, what is Powell's true legacy at this point in his career? In my opinion, he should go down as one of the greatest sprinters ever, based on the quality of times he has run consistently over the last 10 years.
Jamaica owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude because he energized the Jamaican fan base and restored respect for a country that was wandering in the wilderness of male sprinting for a long time. Not since Ray Stewart's upgrade to the silver medal in the 1987 World Championships in Rome, has a Jamaican male athlete (representing Jamaica) finished better than 6th in the 100 meters at either the Olympics or World Championships. Powell's 5th place finish in Athens, 17 years later, changed that. In addition, he produced the first ever world record in the 100 meters by a Jamaican (male or female). That is enough to convince this writer of Powell's greatness.
While I am a big believer that championship victory is the most sound measure of greatness, Powell's dominant times over the distance deserves its place in history. After all, no reasonable person would ever dispute the greatness of McKenley or Clarke.
Has the window of opportunity closed on Asafa Powell? Some may argue that the window shut permanently on that rainy night in June 2008, when Bolt broke Powell's world record at the Reebok (now Adidas) Grand Prix in New York City, then went on to immortality later that summer in Beijing. Now 29 years of age, Powell will lament a myriad of missed opportunities, and must face a throng of younger sprinters both home and abroad in the twilight of his career. Mother time is catching up to him, and a rash of injuries over the last few seasons have taken their toll. I will be rooting hard for Powell this summer to defy the odds and claim that elusive individual world title. However, after witnessing Bolt's 9.82 seconds season opening run at the recently concluded Jamaica International Invitational, I must admit it will take quite the effort.
Created on Friday, 11 May 2012 04:29 | Written by By Peter Forbes, Contributor |
| Asafa Powell
As the London Olympics approaches, and assuming he qualifies for Jamaica's 100 meters men's team, Asafa Powell will undoubtedly be entering the arena that has been most unkind to him. In his only two Olympic appearances in the 100 meters, Powell placed 5th in Athens 2004, followed by another 5th place finish in Beijing 2008.
>Powell entered the 2004 staging as one of the favorites along with Justin Gatlin and Maurice Greene, but fell apart in the final. Four years later in Beijing, he again finished 5th, a particularly disappointing result when you consider he easily ran 9.91 seconds to win the 2nd semi-final, a time that would have given him at least a share of the bronze medal, and a time much slower than his then personal best of 9.74 seconds.
Another wasted opportunity for Powell came in 2007 at the Osaka World Championships, a meet he entered as favorite and world record holder. After leading at 60 meters, his form failed him and he faded to third behind eventual winner Tyson Gay and silver medalist Derrick Atkins.
One wonders if Powell's results on the track would have been different, if as an up and coming sprinter at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, he had not false-started in heat 2 of the quarterfinals. In the preliminary heats, Powell won in 10.05 seconds beating eventual World Champion Kim Collins in that heat. Collins' winning time in the final was 10.07 seconds.
In 2003, Powell was a little known sprinter with virtually no pressure or unreasonable expectations. What would his career have looked like after Paris had he won there? Did this unfortunate event have an impact on his legacy? In all likelihood, he would have competed in the years to follow under far less scrutiny.
With a powerful start and the most nimble feet ever of any sprinter his size, Powell took the sprinting world by storm in 2002 under the watchful eyes of MVP club founder and technical director Stephen Francis. A diamond in the rough to say the least, Powell had what could be described as a very ordinary high school career, winning nothing of note, and evoking none of the memories of his older brother Donovan, whose high school exploits, ten years earlier, suggested super stardom at the senior level. It was not to be for the older Powell, but the younger Powell exceeded all expectations and achieved far more than any prudent man would have expected.
To be in the presence of Powell is to like him. Very soft spoken and humble with a pleasant disposition, it is very easy to root for him. He has exhibited great sportsmanship in the face of mounting disappointments and sometimes ridicule from his own people. His sprinting style is very easy on the eyes, truly poetry in motion, and he is as technically sound a sprinter as the world of athletics has ever seen.
However, on the eve of the London Games, Powell is flirting perilously with the distinction of being a multiple world record holder who has never won individual gold at a major championship meet. This is the legacy of the late great Herb McKenley, who was Jamaica's most influential athletics superstar not named Usain Bolt, and Australian distance great Ron Clarke, who set an astounding 12 world records in 1965 alone. As with McKenley, Clarke never won gold in the Olympic Games, nor in the Commonwealth Games, which was then considered an event of great distinction. Indeed, Powell has won gold in the Commonwealth Games over 100 meters in 2006, but these games have declined in relevance since the beginning of the World Championships era in 1983, and will forever be known as the Games in which America does not compete.
Powell's contribution to the world of sprinting is without debate. Discussing his accomplishments in terms of sub-10 second 100 meters doesn't paint the entire picture. He has accomplished that feat a mere 74 times. He has run sub 9.90 seconds 34 times, and sub 9.80 seconds 8 times. By comparison to currently active sprinting greats, Tyson Gay, who is 3 months older than Powell, has run sub-10 seconds 27 times, sub-9.90 seconds 15 times, and sub-9.80 seconds 7 times; while Usain Bolt has run sub-10 seconds 26 times, sub-9.90 seconds 20 times, and sub-9.80 seconds 7 times. In other words, Powell has eclipsed the 10 seconds barrier on 21 more occasions than Bolt and Gay combined, and the 9.90 second barrier one less time than both together. Truly remarkable when you consider the pressure and intense scrutiny under which today's sprinters perform.
Unfortunately for Powell, history is unkind when judging the greats. Greatness is normally reserved for those who win major championship gold. Powell can claim two gold medals in the 4x100m relays from the Beijing Olympics and the Berlin World Championships, but has never claimed gold at a major championship in the 100 meters which begs the question, what is Powell's true legacy at this point in his career? In my opinion, he should go down as one of the greatest sprinters ever, based on the quality of times he has run consistently over the last 10 years.
Jamaica owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude because he energized the Jamaican fan base and restored respect for a country that was wandering in the wilderness of male sprinting for a long time. Not since Ray Stewart's upgrade to the silver medal in the 1987 World Championships in Rome, has a Jamaican male athlete (representing Jamaica) finished better than 6th in the 100 meters at either the Olympics or World Championships. Powell's 5th place finish in Athens, 17 years later, changed that. In addition, he produced the first ever world record in the 100 meters by a Jamaican (male or female). That is enough to convince this writer of Powell's greatness.
While I am a big believer that championship victory is the most sound measure of greatness, Powell's dominant times over the distance deserves its place in history. After all, no reasonable person would ever dispute the greatness of McKenley or Clarke.
Has the window of opportunity closed on Asafa Powell? Some may argue that the window shut permanently on that rainy night in June 2008, when Bolt broke Powell's world record at the Reebok (now Adidas) Grand Prix in New York City, then went on to immortality later that summer in Beijing. Now 29 years of age, Powell will lament a myriad of missed opportunities, and must face a throng of younger sprinters both home and abroad in the twilight of his career. Mother time is catching up to him, and a rash of injuries over the last few seasons have taken their toll. I will be rooting hard for Powell this summer to defy the odds and claim that elusive individual world title. However, after witnessing Bolt's 9.82 seconds season opening run at the recently concluded Jamaica International Invitational, I must admit it will take quite the effort.
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