T&FN INTERVIEW by Jon Asafa Powell Hendershott safa Powell’s track club in Jamaica goes by T&FN: You false-started twice Athe tag “MVP.” That stands for Maximizing at your high school nationals, yet Velocity and Power, explains founder/head coach Francis came to you to coach. Why Stephen Francis. Yet, the initials could just as did he pick you? well signify “Most Valuable Powell.” Powell: I was an unknown; no After all, the 24-year-old is the fastest 100-me- one knew who I was. I won my ter sprinter in history, having sped a World Record semifinal at the high school na- 9.77 in ’05 and then tied it twice more last year as tionals and then everyone started the high points of his Athlete Of The Year season. to look at me and wonder who Powell has remained in Jamaica to live and was this guy? I guess Stephen train (see sidebar), rather than head to the U.S. saw that I had real potential, even like older brother though I did false start. Powell Facts Donovan. T&FN: Stephen says he likes to •Personal: born St. And unlike so build athletes from the ground up. Catherine’s, Ja- many sprinters, So was there a moment when you maica, November who can put on a really got a sense of how far you 11, 1982; 6-2¾/194 loud, brash public could take sprinting? (1.90/88) face, Powell is a soft- Powell: Well, at the begin- •School: Sports spoken man who ning, I definitely didn’t think medicine student at really does want his that. [Laughs] Early on, I was Kingston University running to speak improving every year. My first of Technology for him. year on the circuit in ’02 I ran •PRs: 100—9.77 WR He shared his 10.12. The second year I ran 10.02. once in ’05, twice in thoughts with In ’04, I went 9.91 and then 9.87. ’06; 200—19.90 ’06; T&FN the night After seeing all those im- 400—47.17 ’07 before the Mt. SAC provements, and after I first went •Coach: Stephen Relays, where he below 10 seconds, I began to Francis chose not to run in think, “You might be capable of •Major Meets: 100— a 4 x 100 after the running something really fast.” 1)Pan-Am Jr ’01; flare-up of tendini- When you run under 10-flat, dq-qf)WC ’03; 5)OG tis behind his right that makes you real in a lot of ’04; 1)CommG, 1) knee: people’s minds. I kept improv- WAF ’06. 200—1) ing, but I really didn’t know I WAF ’04. T&FN: Yo u could run a record time until •World Rankings: literally are the I ran the first 9.77 in ’05. That 100: ’04—1; ’05—2; World’s Fastest Hu- year I was running very well; a ’06—1 (AOY) man. What do you 9.84 before the record. I felt like think of that title? I was challenging myself to keep Powell: Well, it is a very unique honor to running faster. be the fastest man in the world; it’s very huge. T&FN: You were tremendously But sometimes, I myself don’t really know consistent in ’06 with 12 of your how big it is. People come up to me and they 16 races under 10-flat. World-class are the ones who bring it up and let me see sprinting sometimes can be streaky. how big it really is. I do appreciate it and it is What factors enabled you to have an honor to be the fastest man in the world. that high level of consistency? T&FN: How, in fact, did you begin running? Powell: I believe it was due to Powell: There were six boys in our family; the coaching from Stephen and I am the last, the youngest. My oldest brother, also the work of my manager Donovan, was a sprinter. I used to watch him Paul Doyle. I had only one race and admire him but it wasn’t until high school a week, so there wasn’t too much that I started to run myself. pressure put on my body. Run- I didn’t know what I might be capable ning one race a week gave my of doing, but I had the talent and I knew it body plenty of time to recover. would be good for me to try. T&FN: You are very well In my last year of high school, I started to known now, around the world and practice and I ran 10.60. Then coach Francis especially in Jamaica. You can be found me and started coaching me and that surrounded by autograph seekers was when I started to do things. After a month when you go shopping at home. How with him, I ran 10.50. do you cope with high expectations, 24 — June 2007 Track & Field News “It is a very unique honor to be the to always win, to run fast times? feel about having the chance taken away to meet fastest man in Powell: Well, I see it as just your prime rival and settle things on the track? a mind thing from other people. Powell: I was very, very upset at the time. the world; it’s They come up to me and say Everyone was really looking forward to the things like, “You have to beat matchup, especially me. I was waiting for that very huge. But this guy,” or “You have to break “perfect day” when me and Justin would meet. sometimes, I the World Record.” But it’s up to me not to myself don’t let comments like that put Powell Stayed At Home Asafa Powell has developed into the 100’s pressure on me. I know what really know WR holder by training in his Jamaican home- I can do and what I want to land. Why didn’t he move abroad? how big it is.” do—and those might not be “My family and friends are there,” he says. the things that other people “I’m very comfortable there. I will say there want me to do. So, it is a mat- also is a bit of fear because I would guess that ter of me satisfying myself. maybe 80% of the athletes who leave Jamaica, People have to accept regardless of where they go, just disappear. what I want to do for myself I didn’t want to be in the situation where I and not that I have to satisfy went to the States for college but that’s it. I anyone else out in the world. wanted to do track & field as a career. T&FN: Are you the type of athlete who really tries to take “My coach and I have a good relation- it one race at a time? ship, too. I told myself I would try staying in Jamaica for two years. Then if it didn’t work Powell: Yes, I am. I don’t out, I would go to the U.S. But it worked from think about races far ahead, the first year, so there is no reason to leave.” just the very next one I’m Older brother Donovan, a 10.07 performer going to run. I just work to went to college and ran at TCU, taking 2nd prepare myself for that race. in the ’95 NCAA. It is just one step at a time. “Donovan shared experiences with me and T&FN: You weren’t aiming for a record in Gateshead. Yet he even wanted me to come up to TCU at one you tied it [a second time]. time when he was there,” says Powell, but I had already decided I would stay at home.” Powell: I went out just to win and maybe go sub-10. I just ran very relaxed. When I saw the timing board with 9.77 It seemed like a boxing match to me, him on it, I just couldn’t believe it. running his 9.77 in Doha and then me in There can be times when no Gateshead. So I was very excited for us to one expects it, even you. But race and so many directors wanted us to meet I felt relaxed and calm in that up at their meet. race. It was just like a Sunday So when his positive test came up, I was morning stroll. very angry and very disappointed. I also feel T&FN: At the major champi- it brought a lot of added pressure on me be- onships, you haven’t had the best cause I think people wondered if I could keep outcomes yet: disqualified from running fast. “Can he do it without having your quarterfinal at the ’03 Worlds, Justin around?” 5th at the Athens Olympics, then T&FN: Did you feel that you wanted to run as injured in ’05 so you couldn’t run fast as you did consistently to prove the doubters in Helsinki. So are Worlds and absolutely wrong? Olympics victories very important Powell: Yes, but that’s not why I wanted for you to win? to keep running fast. I ran the World Record Powell: The World Champi- twice last year and no one had ever done that onships and the Olympics are before. I’m not trying my best just to prove the titles that everyone wants myself to people.