Asafa Powell

Asafa Powell, CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres.

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.

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.

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.

In 2004 on 12 June, Powell recorded his first sub-10 100 m race time (9.99 s +1.8 m/s) while participating in the National Junior Track and Field Championships, held at the GC Foster College in Spanish Town.

Two weeks later Powell became one of the favourites for a medal in the 100 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics after winning the Jamaican National Championships with a personal best time of 9.91 s. Although he ended the season with a record-equaling nine sub-10 second runs, Powell finished just fifth in the highly competitive Olympic final, with a time of 9.94 s. Following this he pulled out of the 200 m final, even though he had already qualified eighth for it earlier on.

Powell did not get the chance to run for a medal in the 4 × 100 m relay, as the Jamaican team failed to qualify for the final with a season best 38.71 s fourth-place finish in their heat.

Following his Olympic disappointment Powell set a new national record of 9.87 s for the 100 m at the Memorial Van Damme in Bruxelles on 3 September.

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.

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.

He currently holds the world record for the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.09 s, set on 27 May 2010 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

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.

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.

As of 1 September 2016, Powell has broken the ten-second barrier more times than anyone else—97 times.

In 2016, he became Olympic champion in the 4 x 100 metres relay.