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Asafa Powell apologised to flower girl <DIV class=KonaBody>
by Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
Asafa Powell - Reuters
World 100m record holder, Asafa Powell, has apologised to the flower girl after hitting flowers out of her hand at last week's Van Damme Golden League meeting on Friday in <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Belgium</SPAN>, his manager Paul Doyle said yesterday.
Powell, who recovered from a dreadful start to win the race in 9.99 seconds, expressed his disappointment with the starter as he crossed the line, but took out his frustration on the flower girl.
"About 30 seconds after he did that, he went up to the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">flower </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">girl</SPAN> and apologised to her," Doyle said.
upset
"Asafa was certainly upset by the way the starter did the race, he reacted poorly and took it out on the poor flower girl. It was just a reaction, he certainly meant no harm by that," Doyle continued.
In his after-race interview, Powell voiced his disappointment: "I wasn't even ready in the blocks. I was kind of fixing myself and then I heard bang," he explained.
Doyle, said the meet director apologised after Powell's outburst.
"The meet director actually apologised to us, saying that the starter was too inexperienced to be doing that sort of race, he got really nervous," said Doyle who still wondered why an inexperienced starter was used in such a race.
Again, Doyle said: "Asafa was upset because he knew the way he was feeling the world record was there, had that start not happened that way, we would have seen something really special, like a 9.73 or 9.74.
While saying a public apology is not needed, Doyle, said: "He certainly won't react the same way if this happened again."
"I don't know if that's (public apology) necessary. He offended the little girl and apologised for that, I don't think he needs to make anymore.
Meanwhile, Powell and Sherone Simpson head the Jamaicans on the Americas team for next month's IAAF World Cup in Athens, <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink2 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,2); style="POSITION: relative; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,2); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,2); href="http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20060830/sports/sports1.html#" target=_top><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important;
by Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
Asafa Powell - Reuters
World 100m record holder, Asafa Powell, has apologised to the flower girl after hitting flowers out of her hand at last week's Van Damme Golden League meeting on Friday in <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Belgium</SPAN>, his manager Paul Doyle said yesterday.
Powell, who recovered from a dreadful start to win the race in 9.99 seconds, expressed his disappointment with the starter as he crossed the line, but took out his frustration on the flower girl.
"About 30 seconds after he did that, he went up to the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">flower </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">girl</SPAN> and apologised to her," Doyle said.
upset
"Asafa was certainly upset by the way the starter did the race, he reacted poorly and took it out on the poor flower girl. It was just a reaction, he certainly meant no harm by that," Doyle continued.
In his after-race interview, Powell voiced his disappointment: "I wasn't even ready in the blocks. I was kind of fixing myself and then I heard bang," he explained.
Doyle, said the meet director apologised after Powell's outburst.
"The meet director actually apologised to us, saying that the starter was too inexperienced to be doing that sort of race, he got really nervous," said Doyle who still wondered why an inexperienced starter was used in such a race.
Again, Doyle said: "Asafa was upset because he knew the way he was feeling the world record was there, had that start not happened that way, we would have seen something really special, like a 9.73 or 9.74.
While saying a public apology is not needed, Doyle, said: "He certainly won't react the same way if this happened again."
"I don't know if that's (public apology) necessary. He offended the little girl and apologised for that, I don't think he needs to make anymore.
Meanwhile, Powell and Sherone Simpson head the Jamaicans on the Americas team for next month's IAAF World Cup in Athens, <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink2 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,2); style="POSITION: relative; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,2); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,2); href="http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20060830/sports/sports1.html#" target=_top><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important;
