Why Greene May Be Running Scared
Whisper it quietly if you are within earshot of Maurice Greene, but there is a new favourite for the men's 100m title. Asafa Powell might be just 21 years old- the same age as British sprint hope Mark Lewis-Francis - but he shows every sign of continuing Jamaica's incredible run of success in Olympic sprints.
Prior to Greene's triumph in Sydney, the last three Olympic 100m finals had been won by men born in Jamaica.
Canada's Donovan Bailey, who took gold in 1996, was born in Manchester, Jamaica; Linford Christie, champion in 1992, in St Andrews, and Ben Johnson, first across the line in 1988, in Falmouth.
The difference, of course, is that Powell still runs for the country of his birth.
Very fast, too.
Last month he clocked 9.91 seconds at the London Grand Prix, the fastest time ever run in Britain, beating Greene in the process.
I am in world record shape
Asafa Powell Then, at the Weltklasse Golden League meeting in Zurich, he beat Greene again, this time in 9.93secs. "I am real confident, real confident," said Powell, at a reggae party for the Jamaican athletics team in Athens.
"I'm not sure he (Greene) is going to come back to beat me. Let him stay at the back."
Of course, Greene is the man so confident of winning Olympic gold on Sunday that he says, "It's just waiting on me - I just have to go pick it up."
Greene has gone under 10 seconds on more occasions than any other man in history - a staggering 50 times.
At 30 he also has nine years more experience of the big competitions than Powell, who is in only his second full year on the international circuit.
Then there is the threat from Greene's US team-mates, Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin.
Greene remains confident - as always Crawford, previously thought of as more of a 200m specialist, has the fastest time in the world this year with 9.88secs.
He has also gone on record as saying he can go as low as 9.72secs, a time which would destroy the current world record by a massive 0.06secs.
Gatlin is the 22-year-old former world indoor 60m champion, another prodigious talent in an event which is seeing a new generation of stars emerge.
Powell was disqualified at the quarter-final stage of the World 100m last summer for false starting, having set the fastest time in the first round of heats.
But the Jamaican, whose brother Donovan ran at the Sydney Olympics as part of the 4x100m team, refuses to be intimidated. "After last year, I knew that I was going to become stronger this year and would be running a lot faster," he says. "My brother's success built up my confidence a lot. It told me that I was up there.
"I am in world record shape."
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