Powell Driven to Succeed by Personal Trauma

The Asafa Powell widely known to the sporting public is the Jamaican sprinter who has broken world records and won relay golds and lesser meet titles, but never when it really matters in the Olympic or even world championship arena. And now he has been usurped by his compatriot, Usain Bolt, and American Tyson Gay to the extent that the 28-year-old is very much the third man in world sprinting. He is, some even go as far as to say, a choker.

The Asafa Powell who stared out towards the Caribbean  as he walked past his huge collection of cars at home nestled on the top of a hill on the outskirts of Kingston was a very different person than the one perceived by many. His belief is unshaken. He is convinced this year he will re-assert himself and Bolt, his friend and protege, is well aware of his threat. Last week Powell was talking a very convincing talk, and for those who doubt his mental strength then the tragic deaths of three close family members may just revise public perception.

There were once six Powell brothers, with little Asafa the youngest and Donovan, who reached the final of the 60 metres at the world indoor championships in 1999, the eldest. Now there are four. Michael was shot dead in New York in 2002. He was 25. Vaughan died of a heart attack whilst playing football in 2003. He was just 22. Four years' later uncle Corey was stabbed to death in a random attack on a Kingston street.

Powell is the last son of two still practicing church ministers. He is, by his own admission, a "church boy," whose raison d'etre in life is governed by his faith. Yet his belief in God, and his athletics career, were twice placed on a knife-edge.

"I was 18 years old and preparing that morning for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers in Kingston when I heard that Michael had been shot," he recalls. "Donovan called me from America. I remember taking off my clothes as if I wasn't going to the trials, and just breaking down and crying. At that moment there was no way I was going to run that night. There was no way I was going to run at all. I was on the verge of quitting but Donovan talked me out of it and told me Michael would want me to run. So I went to the meet, qualified and then went on to win gold that summer at the Commonwealths."

Almost twelve months later to the day a second tragedy hit Powell and his family. "It was, give or take a day, a year later. I'd become the fastest Jamaican of all time and my career was going well.

Then Vaughan died from a heart attack and I was in a complete state of shock. How could this happen? He was only 22 and there had never been any hint of any heart problems at all. That's when I really got to thinking. Losing Michael was bad enough, but to lose a second brother in the space of a year was very hard to take. I just couldn't understand how it could happen. Who would go next out of the remaining four brothers? Would it be me? Was anything worth it any more. Everything spiralled down in my life at that point."

This included his life-long faith in God. "I had to question my faith, of course," he explains. "Who wouldn't after that? I think even my parents were shaken for a while in their belief, but they helped me through it, as did my friends and family. I think what hit me most was that in your late teens you feel immortal. Death should not come and visit your life."

By the time uncle Corey was murdered in 2007 Powell had toughened up. "He was just out walking in Kingston, minding his own business, when some crazy guy attacked him in the street. My uncle stood no chance. It was very tough on the family, of course, but by then nothing could faze me any more. I'd become very strong. It was me comforting the rest of the family by that stage."

Powell was the 100 metres world record holder by then, having beaten his previous world best of 9.74 seconds by two hundredths of a second. He was supremely confident, despite already missing out on Olympic and world titles. He was also on his way to becoming the man who has ran more sub-ten second 100 metres races - currently standing at an incredible 65 - than anyone else in the history of the sport.   

Then along came Usain Bolt and, within a year, blew  Powell's world record apart on his way to becoming a triple Olympic champion in Beijing. Powell had to make do with a relay gold and then a bronze twelve months on at the Berlin world championships where Bolt repeated his Olympic feat by bagging every gold and every world record going. American Tyson Gay , who dominated the 2007 worlds, became Bolt's main challenger.

Suddenly Powell found himself languishing in third, his medal cupboard bereft of major golds and his personal best seemingly pedestrian compared to Bolt's staggering 9.58 seconds. Injuries held him back, too, although track and field observers wondered whether Powell had just lost his bottle.
 
"I can't remember the last time I was 100% fit," he says. "That is until now. I guess it was probably 2003. Every time I've come to a major championship there's always been something that's just held me back from being at my best. It's never been a mental problem, always physical. I know I am behind Usain and Tyson right now. I accept that. But things can change very quickly. Athletics can be a very ungrateful sport.

"All the negative talk about me, questioning my mental strength and asking if I can ever beat those guys again when it matters, well that's just given me motivation to prove a lot of people wrong, and to prove to myself that I still have it. I won't deny it. I could do with beating them at a big meet. That would be good for my confidence against them. But they know I'm still here, and they know what I'm capable of, especially Usain. He's always saying that at his best I'm the only man who can beat him. He's told me to my face that he knows I'm coming for him. But when I beat them both I want them to be at their best. I don't want any excuses."  
 
The Powell-Bolt relationship is a classic sorcerer and apprentice tale. Bolt has spoken many times of his respect and admiration for Powell, a friend, despite the fact that Bolt keeps beating him to major honours and records, and a mentor. And Powell is more than happy to stake his claim in the story of Jamaican athletics, and Bolt in particular.

"Before me track and field was not the number one sport in Jamaica," he argues. "Football was. Sure, we had Don Quarrie in the 1970's, but that was about it. Then I came along to take Commonwealth Gold and, more importantly, become the first Jamaican to break the world record. That's when other athletes rose up, with the men's relay and with the women sprinters.

Take a walk around Jamaica and ask people what they think about Asafa Powell. They'll say that I was the first world record holder, and that I was the man who motivated Usain. They'll say that without Asafa there would be no Usain. Hey, Usain's told me this himself. He saw all my cars  and my success and it motivated him to work and train hard. Don't get me wrong. I'm very proud of Usain. But I believe I will beat him this summer."

It is hard to believe this but Powell offers a compelling argument. "Long before Usain ran 9.58 seconds to break the world record my coach and I had been targetting 9.5 seconds," he says. "When I broke the world record in 2007 running 9.72 seconds I only ran for 70 metres. I stopped running after that.

I know it would have been a low 9.6 run if I'd carried on to the line. This doesn't mean I wasn't surprised when Usain set his mark in Berlin. I was. I looked at the clock and thought, "woah, this is serious." It will take some beating, but if I can stay as fit as I feel right now then it's possible this year, for sure. I believe all three of us - Usain, Tyson and myself  - can go faster still."

We shall be finding out soon enough. Before the world championships come to Daegu in South Korea in August Powell will be taking on Bolt in Rome at the Diamond League meet in a fortnight's time, and Gay at least twice, in Sheffield and London.

"Yeah, I'd like to win those races to make a statement of my intent," he tells you. "The summer may mainly be about the world championships but I'd like to place doubt in their minds in Daegu by my performances before, and nothing will make them doubt themselves more than being beaten by me. At the moment people believe sprinting is a one-horse or maybe two-horse race. Well it's not. I don't consider my work is done just yet. I know I have one more shot at the Olympics in London next year, and although I understand it may surprise others if or when I beat Usain this year, but it's not going to surprise me. And it won't surprise him, either."

There is, it seems, a very strong motive for Asafa Powell to keep the belief, and it is nothing to do with his cars, his swish estate overlooking the sea, or the money he has made from his serial world records and wins over the years.

It is the simple memory of two brothers. "I do it for them," he admits. "Everything I've achieved, and everything I'm going to achieve is for Michael and Vaughan. I know they'll be happy for me."