Asafa Powell: Bitter Sweet Symphony

Records are made to be broken but a medal can never be taken away. This unfortunately will mean that one of the greatest sprinters in history will likely find himself a faint memory in the mind of only the most diehard fans. Currently the 3rd fastest man ever to lace up a pair of spikes and a multiple time record breaker Asafa Powell has failed to do the one thing that secures legacies in a sport where support can be as fickle and unpredictable as the weather; win a medal at a big meet. He has run more sub 10 seconds than anyone in the history of Athletics. Yet in 20 years it is heartbreaking for a fan like me to think that Powell will not be remembered for anything more than failing to live up to potential.

Powell first ran under 10 seconds in June 2004. Then one year later he entered elite territory when he broke the world record. Powell then equaled this record in 2006 and then broke it again in 2007. His silky smooth running form wowed many and the ease at which he recorded sub 10’s was impressive. In 2005 despite an early end to his season due to injury Powell had the 3 fastest times in the world. In 36 years between Jim Hines being the first man to run under 10 seconds and Powell’s 9.99 in 2004 there were on 43 men in this elusive group. Powell made number 44. Now in the 8 years since he ran this time 38 additional athletes have joined the sub 10 club. Perhaps the most popular member of this club, Olympic champion and world record holder, Usain Bolt has stated that Powell inspired him and paved the way for him and other Jamaican athletes to want to run fast. For you to inspire arguably the greatest modern sprinter to want to be like you is no small feat.

Powell went on a tear for close to 3 years winning the Gold and Diamond league titles. With the freedom of the pressures of the Olympics and World Championships Powell time and time again dazzled us with impressive times in quite easy fashion. Unfortunately during this time span Powell entered championship after championship as a favorite to win. Each time however despite his impressive times before and during in the preliminary rounds one fact kept reoccurring that has left many fan heartbroken and dumbfounded at the same time. Powell continually seemed to buckle under pressure and lose. Not only lose but lose to athletes that on paper were pale imitations of Powell. In 2007 Powell froze under the pressure of his rival Tyson Gay in the finals of the World Championships. Not only did Powell lose to Gay but finished behind Derrick Atkins. Atkins ran his personal best in this race. Powell had blown a big one.

The following year he had a chance to redeem himself on the biggest of stages. He came in to the Olympic finals as one of the favorites. The race was to be between a young upstart Usain Bolt, World champion Tyson Gay and Powell himself. Gay bothered by injury bowed out in the semis. Bolt and Powell qualified with the two fastest times. It was simple from here we all believed. Powell would either win the gold or silver. We were wrong. Powell was inexplicably tight and finished 5th. Redemption came for him when he teamed with Bolt to win a gold medal in a then record time. However he had failed to win one by himself and had received the baton with a clear lead and merely had to ensure he finished the race. The lack of pressure that came with this lead saw Powell run his leg in what at that time was the fastest split for anyone in a relay.Shortly after these games he went on to run 9.72 in a diamond league race. This added to the fuel that he couldn’t win in a big race.

In 2009 he finished 3rd behind Bolt and Gay. He also ran on the relay team with Bolt once more and they once more repeated and won gold. He had failed to win the big one on his own again but by now all hopes of him winning one had started to fade and all eyes were now on Bolt who unlike Powell loved the lime light and shone in it. Injuries meant that Powell had low key 2010 and 2011 seasons. With him even missing World Championships. In this time Yohan Blake joined the spotlight and placed Powell in a spot where no one expected him to win. However his long history of injuries saw him pull up in the finals and finish last. Many believe it was his mental weakness and not his injury and that he merely saw how far ahead the others were and pulled up since he knew he couldn’t win.

So what does this mean for Powell? He’s inspired a new generation of speed which in itself has inspired the future to want to go faster. How many of us can remember who came 5th in any Olympic 100m finals without running off to Google? Is he really that great a sprinter or merely shines best as Bolt’s sidekick with the batons involved. To me he is one of the greatest to ever run. Unfortunately without any medals and a less than stellar performance when it matters others will disagree. Powell himself may have summed it up best after his 2008 performances when he said “Maybe if it was just a one-off race without the qualifying rounds I would have done better. Who knows? Maybe I'm not the guy for those big championships but just the guy to compete in the Grand Prix and Golden League meetings. It's just unfortunate.”

Greatest ever?

I’ve waited for almost a week now before I chimed in on this topic and even now I will not put my personal views out there. What I will do however is put all the facts in front of you and let you decide for yourself. I’m sure most of you reading this know I’m a diehard track and field fan and I have even had my girlfriend look at me once and reason “your love for that sport is over the top.” So when two of the biggest names in the history of the sport publicly engage in a war of words it is sure to catch my attention. From this sparring match it has led to one argument coming up time and time again: who’s the greatest Bolt or Lewis? To answer this you would have to look at this from several angles: medals, accumulated impact on the sport and overall legacy.

Carl Lewis has accumulated a medal count at The Olympics and World Championships that will be hard to match. Between 1983 and 1996 Lewis amassed 10 medals at each of these championships. He has 9 Olympic gold medals and 1 silver. These include 4 consecutive gold medals in long jump, a back to back 100m title in 1984 and 1988, 2 4x100m titles and 1 200m title. His silver came in the 200m. it is to note that his back to back gold medal performance was only possible due to Ben Johnson being caught on drugs in 1988 and having his medals stripped. His tally at Worlds includes 3 consecutive 100m titles and 3 consecutive 4x100m titles. He won the long jump 2 times in a row before Mike Powell demoted him to 2nd in what is largely accepted as the best long jump showdown in history. The battle these two men had was so epic that they both set personal best with Powell setting a world record that still stands today. This defeat ended Lewis’s 65 consecutive victories in long jump. This is still one of the longest streaks in any sporting event in history. Many argue that Lewis’ medal tally might have been even higher had the USA not boycotted the 1980 Olympics. He would have gone into those games ranked in the top 10 in Long Jump and on a strong relay team. Lewis equalled Jesse Owen's record of 4 gold in a single Olympics with his 1984 performance.

As it currently stands Bolt has 6 Olympic Gold medals from 3 Olympic appearances. His first Olympic appearance was in 2004 where after a stellar early season a hamstring injury hampered his performance and caused him to crash out disappointingly in the prelims of the 200m. Since then his Olympic performances have been 2 thing, golden and record breaking. His 7 World Championship medals include 5 gold and 2 silver. The Silver came in 2007 in the 200m and 4x100m as Bolt was regaining his form from injury and making his climb up the world rankings. His World Championship medal tally is believed to be 1 short due to Bolt surprisingly being disqualified under the false start rule. Bolt was the overwhelming favorite to win the gold medal that year. On medal tally alone it would appear that Lewis is the greater of the two but their impact goes deeper than just winning medals.

Carl Lewis has had a far from controversial-free career. In 1988 he tested positive 3 times for a series of performance enhancing drugs. The US Olympic Committee(USOC) ruled that his intake of these drugs were “incidental” and failed to report them or take any disciplinary action against Lewis. This has led to many Athletic fans placing some doubt on the validity of his records and accomplishments. Lewis was king in an era that saw many champions being caught or believed to have been on drugs. Lewis’ public image has also long been under scrutiny with him losing sponsors after his first Olympic games due to rumours of homosexuality. One sponsor even stated that the face of male athletics should be a masculine person. Lewis’ final gold medal in Long Jump at the 1996 Olympics is also held in some cloud of doubt over it as some believe he only won this due to injury to Mike Powell and Ivan Pedroso, the two leading jumpers at the time. Lewis wanted to grab one more medal and tried to get on the relay team. He had however skipped the mandatory relay training camp and after much debate and Lewis pressuring and trying to coerce public support the USA team decided to stick with their original squad. The team finished second behind Canada who were anchored by new Olympic champion and record holder Donovan Bailey. This would have been Lewis’ 11th medal and possibly 10th gold.

Bolt on the other hand has been the poster boy for drug free athletics in recent times. Bolt came about in an era when drugs were linked to all the stars. The sport had been rocked to the core by several world champions and Olympic champions being caught and the poster girl Marion Jones being involved in a huge drug scandal. Bolt however continually raised the bar and is yet to be caught doing anything wrong. He pushes the line with what is acceptable behavior for athletes. He’s seen by many as cocky due to his jovial and care free antics on the track. He’s been known to party and fool around and this has led to him being in 3 car accidents in recent years. However, in a sport crying out for a savior due to all the tarnish pelted on its name Bolt has stepped up and done just that. His signature “to the world” pose is 1 of the most recognizable and copied poses in modern times. All of a sudden there is fun now in athletics with his fellow Jamaican athletes joining in. English distance champion Mo Farah has even developed his own signature pose and even found the time to do sit ups after his win. Bolt found time to do pushups after the 200m and to even copy Farah’s signature “mobot” pose after the 4x100m. Bolt has broken the 100m record no less than 8 times in 5 years. He was once considered a lazy athlete due to the fact that he hated to run 400m but since the switch to 100m and 200m his work ethic has come in for high praise and the performances reflect this.

Are either of these men legends? In my views they both are. As it stands both Lewis and Bolt have set the bar high for all to follow. Despite what others may argue they are both living legends in the sport. Lewis retired in 1997 and since then the International Olympic Committee has voted him Sportmans of the Century in 1999 and the IAAF has voted him Athlete of the Century. Bolt is still actively participating so no comparison can be made at this time in those regards but on mere influence on the sport Bolt’s contribution is immense. will he be able to compete and medal in 4 Olympics like Carl did? Highly unlikely as it stands but we can only wait and see. So I leave it to you, the readers, who do you think is the greatest between the two?