Asafa Powell CD (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of 9.72 s ranking fourth on the all-time list of men's 100-metre athletes. As of 1 September 2016, Powell has broken the 10-second barrier more times than anyone else—97 times. He currently holds the world record for the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.07 s, set on 27 May 2010 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In 2016, he became Olympic champion in the 4 × 100 metres relay.
Powell competed in the 100 m at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics, finishing fifth in 2004 and 2008 and eighth after injuring his groin during the race in 2012. At the 2007 Osaka World Championships, he achieved a bronze and a silver medal in the 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay respectively, and he was successful at the Commonwealth Games, winning twice plus achieving a silver medal. At the 2009 World Championships, he achieved the 100 m bronze and became champion in the relay. Powell has won five times at the IAAF World Athletics Final and was the former 100 m world record holder in the event.
In 2013, Powell tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine along with teammate Sherone Simpson and voluntarily withdrew from the 2013 World Athletics Championships as a result, though both maintained they did not take any banned supplements knowingly or willfully. On 10 April 2014, they received an 18-month suspension from competing, which was set to expire in December that year. However the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted both athletes' suspensions on 14 July 2014, finding that the positive tests were caused by the presence of oxilofrine, undisclosed by the manufacturer, in a supplement taken by the pair. Powell won a lawsuit against the supplement company for failing to disclose the banned stimulant.
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Biography and sprinting career
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Asafa Powell is the youngest of six sons of two ministers. Asafa attended Ewarton Primary School and Charlemont High School, both in St. Catherine, Jamaica. Powell planned to be a mechanic before he took up running while studying in Kingston, Jamaica. His eldest brother Donovan, was a 60 m finalist in the 1999 World Indoor Championships. Running runs in the family: His brothers clocked 9.5 seconds for the 100 yd dash, his mother 11.4 s, and his father 10.2 s. Powell is a member of the MVP (Maximising Velocity and Power) Track & Field Club based at the University of Technology, Jamaica and has been coached by Stephen Francis since 2001.
2000–2005: Early career
Powell represented his school Charlemont High at the ISSA High School Championships. On 11 April he finished fourth in the Class 1 200 m, in 23.07 with a −1.7 m/s headwind. On 13 April, he finished third in his heat of the Boy's Class 1 100 m, recording 11.45 with a −2.3 m/s headwind. Neither time recorded in the heats was quick enough to advance him to the next round of competition.
Powell again represented Charlemont High at the ISSA High School Boy And Girls Championships, finishing seventh in the Class 1 100 m Final. Recognizing some talent, coach Stephen Francis started coaching Powell one week later. The coach looked for a way to give the tall teenager a faster start. After searching the island, Stephen Francis found a 100 m stretch of road with a 10% slope and trains his runners on that. Powell vindicated Francis by winning the Boys Under-20 100 m event in 10.50 seconds at the JAAA National Championships on 22 June.
At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Powell finished fifth in the semi-finals of the 100 m event, setting a personal best of 10.26 s. Powell, along with Michael Frater, Dwight Thomas and Christopher Williams formed the Jamaican 4 × 100 m relay team that went on to win a silver medal. Powell finished just behind Darren Campbell in the last leg of the relay, with both men finishing in 38.62 s.
Powell won the Jamaican 100 m National Championship in 2003.
Powell came to attention within the world of athletics at the 2003 World Championships, when he suffered the ignominy of being 'the other athlete' disqualified for a false start in the quarter-final. This was when Jon Drummond memorably refused to leave the track having suffered the same fate, both athletes moved less than 0.1 s after the gun had fired, with Powell's reactions being timed at 0.086 s. Six days later Powell was added to the 4 × 100 m relay team for the semi-final, running as the anchor. He helped the team qualify for the final, recording the second fastest time. Powell never had a chance to run for a medal in the final as the second baton exchange was not executed cleanly and the Jamaican team failed to finish. During the 2003 season, Powell won two IAAF Grand Prix events, one of which was an AF Golden League event. He finished seventh in 10.23 s in the 100 m at the IAAF World Athletics Final.
2006–2007: Worldwide success
2006 was Powell's most successful season. He won the 2006 Commonwealth Games 100 metres race after a drama-filled semi-final which saw two disqualifications and three false starts. Powell himself ran into another competitor's lane while looking at the scoreboard; however, he was held not to have impeded the runner. He also anchored the 4 × 100 m relay team, and finished the Commonwealth Games with two gold medals. In May, he won the 100 m at the Jamaica International Invitational in 9.95 s. In addition to winning the 200 m at the Jamaican National Championships in June, he won ten 100 m IAAF Grand Prix events, including all six Golden League events.
Powell then equalled his world record time on 11 June 2006 at Gateshead International Stadium with wind assistance measured at +1.5 m/s. The exact time was 9.7629 s, which was rounded up to 9.77 s as per IAAF rules. On 18 August 2006 in Zürich, Powell equalled it again for the second time with wind assistance at +1.0 m/s. He won his sixth IAAF Golden League event (for the 100 m) in the same season, thus earning him a total of $250,000 in prize money. Powell also won the 100 m at the World Athletics Final, again setting a new championship record on 9 September. One week later at the World Cup in Athletics, the Americas team anchored by Powell recorded a DNF. In October, Powell again received the Caribbean And Central American (CAC) Male Athlete of the Year award. On 12 November 2006, he was awarded the title of 2006 Male IAAF World Athlete of the Year along with a cheque for $100,000. He also received the honour of Track & Field Athlete of the Year for 2006.
On 5 January 2007, Powell received the Commonwealth Games Sports Foundation Athlete of the Year award. On 3 February he was honoured at the International Sports Group (ISG) Awards Banquet, held in New York. In addition, Powell was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards Sportsman of the Year award. Suffering from knee Tendinitis and missing weeks of training Powell missed competing at the Penn Relays and the Jamaica International Invitational in May. Powell was again the Jamaican National Champion for the 100 m. Unfortunately, Powell again injured his groin while running the final at the Jamaica Championships. He only managed to finish third in the 100 m final at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, behind Tyson Gay, who was considered Powell's biggest rival building up to the Championships. Derrick Atkins, Powell's second cousin, came second in 9.91 s. Powell himself finished in a time of 9.96 s (running in a 0.5 m/s headwind) after being passed by Gay and Derrick Atkins in the late stages of the race. Later, Powell admitted that he panicked and gave up after seeing Gay pass him, allowing Atkins also to overtake.
2008–2009: Olympics and World Championships
On 29 January 2008, Powell received the RJR Sports Foundation's 2007 Sportsman of the Year award. Powell's 2008 season started much as his 2007 season ended: with another injury. Powell was forced to pull out of the Sydney Grand Prix meeting, having suffered a gash to his left knee that required four stitches. The injury was a result of tripping on the steps of his home, hours before getting on the flight to Sydney on 12 February.
Powell was again injured in April, this time with damage to his pectoral muscles. The injury forced Powell out of competition for two months, and was sustained while weight training in Jamaica during mid-April. Surgery was required, and a visible scar was left on his right underarm.
On 31 May, fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt ran a time of 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, breaking Powell's 3-year dominance of the 100 m world record.
On 11 July, Powell suffered his third injury of 2008 while leading in Heat 1 of the Golden Gala Roma, eventually finishing fifth. He had injured his groin (described as a "strain" and a "cramp"), and was forced to miss the next two events on the Grand Prix schedule. Powell made his comeback at the DN Galan meet, where he beat the new World Record holder Bolt, in a close race. The meet's top performers were a Jamaican 1–2–3–4 with Nesta Carter and Michael Frater following the pair. This top four would later combine to run the 4 × 100 m relay at the Olympics.
Prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Powell hit back at the claims saying he lacked the mental strength needed to win an Olympic gold medal.
It [the Olympics] doesn't scare me. The guys that I'm running against in Beijing are the same ones I run against all year, it's no different at the Olympics – it's just a name, and you should put that aside until you cross the line.
If all you guys look back and check from before, you'll see that Athens was my first Olympics, I ran my personal best in the final – so I'm not sure why people say I don't run my best in finals.
2010–2011
Asafa Powell opened his 2010 season on 20 February at the UWI Invitational Meet in Jamaica by competing in the 400 m. He won his heat in a time of 47.56 s but was placed 3rd overall according to his time. He then ran the 200 m at the UTech Classic on 17 April 2010, also in his homeland. He competed in the 200 m in heavy rain and cold conditions. Powell opened up a huge lead in the first 100 m, after which he slowed drastically and won his heat in 21.27 s in a 1 m/s headwind. Later, it was reported that Powell had suffered minor cramps on his left calf muscles, which was why he had to slow down. Powell was next scheduled to run in the highly anticipated 4 × 100 m Penn Relays featuring Jamaica Yellow, and competing against Usain Bolt (Jamaica Black). However, he pulled out of the race as it was reported by his assistant coach that he had an injured toe, which would need some time to heal. At the IAAF Diamond League in Doha, Powell made a wind aided time of 9.75 s in the heat and 9.81 s in the final, also wind-aided. He subsequently set a 100 m world leading time of 9.83 s. En route to this performance, he also set the rarely run 100 yards dash world best at 9.07 s, beating the previous record of 9.21 s set by Charlie Greene.
Powell next competed at the DKF Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, where he powered to a splendid victory with a wind-aided 9.72 s. A week later, he competed at the Golden Gala in Rome, Italy, where he overcame a very poor reaction time at the start to take another victory in a World Leading time of 9.82 s. It was reported that Powell ended his six-year contract with leading sports brand Nike due to sponsorship problems, and rumours spread that he has a new contract with fast upcoming Chinese sports brand Li-Ning. Asafa next competed in the 200 m of the Jamaican Senior Trials where he won the final in 19.97 s, his second fastest ever. There, for the first time, he promoted his new Li Ning outfit. Powell next competed in Gateshead where he got off to a terrific start but lost to fast finishing Tyson Gay, who took the victory in 9.94 s to Powell's 9.96 s in a strong 1.7 m/s headwind. Powell was not very disappointed as he mentioned that he got too relaxed, thus allowing Gay to outdo him in the final strides. The next race in Paris against Usain Bolt was a disappointing one. Although he had a good start, Bolt caught him at halfway point, and Asafa began to lose his fluent running form. He finished 2nd to Bolt in 9.91 s, 0.07 s slower than his rival and also into a slight headwind. Asafa said that he had a very bad race, which he hoped to improve in his upcoming races. Unfortunately for Powell, there was not a 'next race' for him. He picked up strains from his Paris meeting, which aggravated to hamstring and back problems. Powell missed his next two outings where he was scheduled to clash against Bolt and Gay. Powell ended his splendid 2010 season on a disappointing note, even though he expressed satisfaction on the races that he competed for the year.
2012 London Olympics
In a ceremony held on 24 February, Powell received the University of Technology (UTech) Chancellor's Medal as well as Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award International Ambassador role. He ran a personal best for the 60 metres at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, setting a time of 6.50 seconds. On the 2012 IAAF Diamond League circuit, he was narrowly beaten by Justin Gatlin in Doha (runner-up in 9.88 seconds), then won the 100 m at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix a week later.
On 5 August 2012, Asafa Powell ran in the final of the 100 m race at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. After back-to-back 5th-place finishes in Athens and Beijing, 2004 and 2008 respectively, Powell had his most disastrous final yet when he finished in last place with a time of 11.99 seconds, pulling up after seeing others pulling ahead of him, but it was ultimately due to a persistent groin injury. Powell said:"It was my old groin injury that reoccurred. I felt it and it started to go. You never want to get injured, but it is a bit of a disaster when it happens in the Olympic final."
Usain Bolt took the gold with Yohan Blake getting the silver and Justin Gatlin the bronze. As a result, Powell along with longtime rival Tyson Gay who finished 4th, remain as two of the three fastest men of all time to never have won any individual Olympic medals of any type.
After the race, Jamaica's track and field manager Ludlow Watts lavished praise on Powell:Powell actually started this great change in our sprinting, and he's still a champion.
Following the race, Powell had an ultrasound showing new tears in his adductor muscles as well as scar tissue in a previous injury. The groin injury appears to be season-ending as manager Paul Doyle believes he will miss the remainder of the year. "I don't think it looks good for the rest of the season for Asafa," he lamented. Powell was not able to compete for Jamaica in the men's 4 × 100 m relay on 10 August.
Powell released an apparel and accessories line branded "Sub 10 King" and many others, also opening up his personal website www.iamasafa.com for people's viewing and a platform to purchase his products.
2015 World Athletics Championships
During his 2015 season, Powell made another appearance at a major championship in the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. He advanced through the heats and semifinals, running 9.95 and 9.97 respectively. In the final, however, he clocked a time of 10.00 seconds, ultimately finishing in seventh place.
2016 Rio Olympics
On 19 August 2016, Powell made a triumphant Olympic return, competing as part of the Jamaican 4 × 100 m men's relay team and winning a gold medal. After Jamaican team gold medal in 2008 Olympics were stripped, this medal win will be his only gold medal at Olympic Games.
Physiology and running style
Despite Powell's size (1.91 m or 6 ft 3 in tall, weighing 93 kilograms or 205 pounds), he has fast initial acceleration. In the Japanese sports Science institute in 2008, Asafa Powell was measured to have a small cross sectional area of his quadriceps tendon stretched with 114 kilograms of pull force, compared to sprinter Nobuharu Asahara's measurement of 59 kilograms, and the average mans as being 43 kilograms. Powell was also noted as having a large Psoas major muscle in the Japanese sports science institute. Coupled with comparatively high stiffness in his ligaments and tendons, his long legs provide a long stride of 2.6 metres with rapid progression between each stride.
Personal life
Powell is deeply religious, citing his mother and father and his strict upbringing as the reason for this.
In 2002, tragedy struck the Powell family when one of Asafa's brothers, Michael Powell, was shot dead in a taxi in New York. This emotional event happened the week of the Jamaica National Trials. In 2003, Asafa lost another brother during the week of the Jamaica National Championships. One year after the death of Michael, Vaughn Powell suffered a heart attack while playing a game of American football. In April 2007, Corey Reid, an uncle of Powell, was stabbed in Waterloo, Ewarton, St. Catherine. He later died in hospital.
Powell married Ghanaian-born Canadian model Alyshia Powell in 2019. Powell has five children—three with his wife, Amieke Powell, Azhaf Powell, Azim Powell and two from previous relationships, Avani Powell and Liam Powell. Former Mercedes Formula 1 junior Alex Powell is his cousin.
He is good friends with compatriot, 100 and 200-metre world record holder Usain Bolt. The two are often seen joking around and do meet off the track.
Powell is an avid car enthusiast.
Powell announced his retirement from Track and Field on 23 November 2022.
Sponsorship
Powell has been under contract with Nike since 2004, representing them in all his IAAF races, and agreed to appear in various advertising campaigns for the company. Nike designed and built the Zoom Aerofly shoes for him, which were used at the 2008 Beijing Games. However, Powell ended his contract with Nike in mid-2010, and signed up with leading Chinese sports brand Li Ning. He signed with Puma in 2015 and is still a contracted ambassador in retirement.
GlaxoSmithKline, through its energy drink Lucozade, has sponsored Powell since he first broke the 100 m World Record in 2005. They honoured his Beijing achievements in a small function in October 2008.
In January 2006, Powell signed as a global brand spokesperson for Nutrilite. Nutrilite products are sold through the Amway corporation. On 14 January 2009 Amway's Team Nutrilite ended the sponsorship agreement with Powell.
Accomplishments and major competition results
Competition record
60 metres
100 metres
200 metres
4 × 100 metres relay
Miscellaneous accomplishment
Sub-10.0 runs, Season (100 m)
Powell was the first man to have run legally under 10.00 seconds 15 times in a single season (2008).
IAAF World Athletics Tour wins
Powell has recorded a total of 35 wins in IAAF Grand Prix events, 14 coming in Golden League events and 12 in IAAF Super Grand Prix events.
In the seven-year history of the IAAF World Athletics Final (2003–2009), Powell won the most competitions of any male athlete and took home the most prize money in the male events. In his seven appearances at the competition, he won the 100 m four times and 200 m once, winning US$173,000 in total.
Time progression in the 100 m
