Powell defends Bolt after Lewis goes on attack
Ryland James
Jamaica's Asafa Powell leapt to the defence of compatriot and sprint
sensation Usain Bolt here on Saturday after ex-Olympic champion Carl
Lewis questioned Bolt's performances in Beijing.
With Bolt resting back in Jamaica, Powell again dipped below ten
seconds to win the 100m at the World Athletics Final on Saturday then
said he was disappointed with comments made by Lewis in the United
States.
After Bolt won three gold medals and set three world records in
Beijing, Lewis said anyone who did not question the sudden improvements
in the champions' performances was a 'fool'.
"Yes, I am disappointed with the words of a former athlete," said
Powell, who finished fifth in the 100m Olympic final but was part of the
Jamaican team that smashed the 4x100m relay world record.
"Usain (Bolt) did better than all the other athletes before him and
yet he (Lewis) does not manage to believe in him.
"What Usain did does not shock me, because I know how much talent he
has and this is the first year he has devoted his training to the 100m."
Powell was responding after Lewis, who won four gold medals at the 1984
Olympics, told Sports Illustrated: "When people ask me about Bolt I say
he could be the greatest athlete of all time.
"But to run 10.03 seconds one year and 9.69 the next, if you don't
question that in a sport with the reputation it has right now, you're a
fool. Period."
Former world record-holder Powell won in wintry conditions here in a
time of 9.87secs - the sixth time he has run sub 10-seconds since the
Olympics.
Meanwhile, Olympic and world champion Barbora Spotakova of the Czech
Republic set a new world javelin record here with a throw of 72.28m here
and said she will spend her 130,000 dollars prize money to build a new
house.
She smashed the old record by 58cms and was delighted to break the
previous mark of 71.70m set by Cuba's Osleidys Menendez at the 2005
World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.
Having defeated two-times world champion Jeremy Wariner in Beijing,
USA compatriot LaShawn Merritt once again slayed his rival, but by the
closest of margins in the men's 400m.
Wariner had a clear lead off the final bend, but Merritt ran him down
and dived over the line to win by less than a hundredths of a second.
Wariner vowed to learn the lessons of 2008 to make sure there is no
repeat in 2009.
"Next year, I have to work a lot harder to beat LaShawn," he said.
On a bleak day in Stuttgart, America's Beijing silver medal-winner
Kerron Clement was unimpressed with the cold German weather as he won
the 400m hurdles in 48.96secs.
"The weather was cold - just horrible," he complained.
"Now I am going home to spend my vacation in Los Angeles, just relax
and party. "I won't change anything next year."
With her wedding to New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross coming up
in 2010, Sanya Richards won the 200m in 22.50secs and admitted she was
just having fun ahead of planning her big day.
"I get married in February 2010 and we have to start the preparations
now," she said. "My fiancee is in the middle of the (American) football
season and couldn't come, but after winning here I need to get home and
start planning."
Having suffered heartbreak in Beijing when a clipped hurdle cost her
a medal, America's Lolo Jones finished second behind winner Josephine
Onyia of Spain in the 100m hurdles.
America's Bernard Lagat of the day won the first track event of the
weekend when he ran a season's best of 8 mins 2.97secs in the 3000m
ahead of Kenya's Edwin Cheruiyot Soi.
But it was a subdued first day after news Russian pole-vault queen
Yelena Isinbayeva had withdrawn on Saturday morning with a heavy cold.
The 26-year-old reigning Olympic and world champion had been expected to
dominate Saturday's competition. The Russian was already suffering with
a cold when she arrived in Stuttgart and an additional upset stomach
forced her to withdraw.
"I've tried everything, but my body has simply said 'no'," she said.
"My cold hasn't got any better and I've also had problems with my
stomach."
She was another big name to withdraw from this weekend's season
finale after Beijing 110m hurdles winner Dayron Robles and Ethiopia's
Kenenisa Bekele, who won both the 5000m and 10000m in Beijing, pulled
out last week.
STUTTGART, Germany, Sunday AFP
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