Another disappointment for Asafa
FORMER 100m record holder Asafa Powell could not hide his disappointment for again failing on the big stage after finishing seventh in the event at the World Championships in Beijing, China yesterday.
Powell, 33, was never in the race and eased through the final metres when it was absolutely clear he couldn’t win, clocking 10.00 seconds.
“I am very, very disappointed because I should have been in the top three tonight (yesterday), but I just didn’t pull it off. That’s how it goes, disappointments, disappointments,” said a distraught Powell.
Drawn in lane eighth with Justin Gatlin to his left, Powell couldn’t see his countryman Usain Bolt in lane five during the race.
Powell was asked that frequent heart-wrenching question once again. What happened? “I just didn’t have the legs to finish the race. I didn’t get a good start. I just need to go back and focus on getting my start back. I lost that and just didn’t have the legs to finish”.
The man dubbed the sub-10 king, with a personal best of 9.72, was never in the race despite showing wonderful form heading to Beijing.
“I’ve been having a great season and expectations were very high for me at this World Championships and I didn’t pull it off tonight. It is one more disappointment added to the disappointments before. I just need to go back to the drawing board and run the full race,” he admitted.
Powell said he is hoping he can get that elephant off his back when it comes to major championships.
“I hope I can move on from that. It has been going on for a while now, and I definitely have to move on and see if I can pull it off,” said Powell.
“I felt very confident at the start of the race. I thought I had one more left in me. But when the gun went off, I just couldn’t get going,” he added.
“When you can see the guys coming out ahead of me you know something is wrong. I was focusing too much on the later part of the race and I think I lost the start. So I will have to go back and focus on it,” he pointed out.
…Praises Bolt on his win
“Everyone wanted Justin to lose tonight and Usain managed to pull it off and I am very happy about that.
“He wasn’t competing much this season, but he whispered to me around the warm up area that he had a bullet in his gun and he is gonna fire it tonight. I am happy that he did,” said Powell, smiling.
“You definitely have to respect him because he has what it takes to win races, and he came out here tonight and he proved that. Once you have it you can’t lose it,” Powell added.