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JUSTIN GATLIN, THE BANE OF ASAFA POWELL
On Friday, May 11, 2012 former 100-metre world record holder Asafa Powell ran his fastest season opener ever (9.88seconds) and yet Jamaicans were angry. Why? Because Powell, in running his fastest time ever over 100 metres to open a season, managed to lose a race he should have won and in so doing reminded Jamaicans as to their countryman’s shortcomings over the last decade.
Powell is arguably one of the most talented sprinters in history and while he has used that talent to dip below the 10-second barrier a record 75 times, he continues to show how fragile he can be when competing against some of the world’s best sprinters. Way back when Powell had begun to dominate the world of sprinting world and Olympic champion Maurice Greene had infamously said that when Powell is running against people he knows he can beat he is the perfect sprinter. However, put someone in the race with him who can compete and he will choke, or words to that effect.
At the time people thought Greene, known for the mind games he played on his opponents, was just playing with Powell’s head but time has proven Greene right and it has been an uncomfortable truth for a lot of Jamaicans to accept. In two Olympic Games Powell has yet to win an individual medal and in three world championships, he has only managed to secure two individual bronze medals – one of them in a race he should have won.
In 2007 at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, Powell was the favourite to lift his first world title and make up for missing out in Paris in 2003 when in most dramatic fashion was disqualified for false starting along with Jon Drummond, and in 2005 when a groin injury prevented him from competing. In the final Powell was seen as a lock as he had never been beaten by American Tyson Gay, his only real threat. But as history would prove, those things have little bearing on Powell’s mind when he is competing against the world’s best sprinters. Leading at 80metres, Powell felt pressure from Gay and crumbled and, in his own words, quit, finishing third as Bahamian Derrick Atkins came up to take second.
That was the last year of Powell’s reign as the world’s best sprinter as Gay had now taken that title and in 2008, along came a 22-year-old star called Usain Bolt.
In Doha on Friday, May 11, Powell found himself in the very familiar role of favourite only to crack under the pressure provided by American Justin Gatlin, who back in Powell’s heyday, was the only sprinter to have Powell’s ticket. Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion and the 2005 World Champion, has been back a full season from a four-year drug suspension but during the indoor season, shown that he was nearing his best form. In Doha, despite being a metre behind Powell, ran the Jamaican down and edged by him at the line to win in 9.87s, his fastest opener ever.
That Jamaicans are angry only suggests that we really do not learn much from history. If they had looked at Powell’s past they would have seen this coming. Before this last race Gatlin had beaten Powell six times in nine attempts, among them the Olympic finals in Athens and again in Eugene Oregon in 2005, when Powell got pipped at the line by a fast-finishing Gatlin. The disappointment, I suppose, comes from the fact that since Gatlin was suspended about four years ago, Powell had moved his own record to 9.72, past the 9.77 barrier that obtained when both men battled. There was also disappointment that it was Gatlin that defeated Powell; this after coming off a drug suspension.
What is most disappointing however, is that after all this time Powell is still to learn what it means to be a competitor; what it means to focus on what he needs to do to win and not what others are doing. The disappointment comes because now he has allowed Gatlin to get back into his head and possibly, later this summer, relegate Powell to an also ran like he had been in Athens in 2004 and again in Beijing four years later.
However, this is only the first meeting of the season between the two veterans. Time will tell what happens later this summer in the other Diamond League meets and most importantly, at the summer Games in London. This could be the last shot for both men at major glory. Gatlin already has his titles however, so as usual all the pressure falls on Asafa, the man least equipped to deal with it.
http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=1259
On Friday, May 11, 2012 former 100-metre world record holder Asafa Powell ran his fastest season opener ever (9.88seconds) and yet Jamaicans were angry. Why? Because Powell, in running his fastest time ever over 100 metres to open a season, managed to lose a race he should have won and in so doing reminded Jamaicans as to their countryman’s shortcomings over the last decade.
Powell is arguably one of the most talented sprinters in history and while he has used that talent to dip below the 10-second barrier a record 75 times, he continues to show how fragile he can be when competing against some of the world’s best sprinters. Way back when Powell had begun to dominate the world of sprinting world and Olympic champion Maurice Greene had infamously said that when Powell is running against people he knows he can beat he is the perfect sprinter. However, put someone in the race with him who can compete and he will choke, or words to that effect.
At the time people thought Greene, known for the mind games he played on his opponents, was just playing with Powell’s head but time has proven Greene right and it has been an uncomfortable truth for a lot of Jamaicans to accept. In two Olympic Games Powell has yet to win an individual medal and in three world championships, he has only managed to secure two individual bronze medals – one of them in a race he should have won.
In 2007 at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, Powell was the favourite to lift his first world title and make up for missing out in Paris in 2003 when in most dramatic fashion was disqualified for false starting along with Jon Drummond, and in 2005 when a groin injury prevented him from competing. In the final Powell was seen as a lock as he had never been beaten by American Tyson Gay, his only real threat. But as history would prove, those things have little bearing on Powell’s mind when he is competing against the world’s best sprinters. Leading at 80metres, Powell felt pressure from Gay and crumbled and, in his own words, quit, finishing third as Bahamian Derrick Atkins came up to take second.
That was the last year of Powell’s reign as the world’s best sprinter as Gay had now taken that title and in 2008, along came a 22-year-old star called Usain Bolt.
In Doha on Friday, May 11, Powell found himself in the very familiar role of favourite only to crack under the pressure provided by American Justin Gatlin, who back in Powell’s heyday, was the only sprinter to have Powell’s ticket. Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion and the 2005 World Champion, has been back a full season from a four-year drug suspension but during the indoor season, shown that he was nearing his best form. In Doha, despite being a metre behind Powell, ran the Jamaican down and edged by him at the line to win in 9.87s, his fastest opener ever.
That Jamaicans are angry only suggests that we really do not learn much from history. If they had looked at Powell’s past they would have seen this coming. Before this last race Gatlin had beaten Powell six times in nine attempts, among them the Olympic finals in Athens and again in Eugene Oregon in 2005, when Powell got pipped at the line by a fast-finishing Gatlin. The disappointment, I suppose, comes from the fact that since Gatlin was suspended about four years ago, Powell had moved his own record to 9.72, past the 9.77 barrier that obtained when both men battled. There was also disappointment that it was Gatlin that defeated Powell; this after coming off a drug suspension.
What is most disappointing however, is that after all this time Powell is still to learn what it means to be a competitor; what it means to focus on what he needs to do to win and not what others are doing. The disappointment comes because now he has allowed Gatlin to get back into his head and possibly, later this summer, relegate Powell to an also ran like he had been in Athens in 2004 and again in Beijing four years later.
However, this is only the first meeting of the season between the two veterans. Time will tell what happens later this summer in the other Diamond League meets and most importantly, at the summer Games in London. This could be the last shot for both men at major glory. Gatlin already has his titles however, so as usual all the pressure falls on Asafa, the man least equipped to deal with it.
http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=1259
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