Olympics are about gold not record

Till Usain Bolt arrived on the scene, Tyson Gay was considered the man to beat Asafa Powell. But the American says there are many more contenders for the Olympic gold than he, Powell and Bolt. Rajesh Pansare catches up with the 100m world champion.

Tell us about your childhood and how did athletics happen?
When we were kids my sister, Tiffany, and I used to race all the time outside, just having fun. She is a year older, and she always beat me.

When I was 14, I finally beat her for the first time and it was a happy day for me. She was a fast runner, especially a fast starter, and she is one of my role models. My mother is another. S

he had to overcome a lot of hardships. When I was in high school, I played (American) football, and when I was younger I played baseball. I was fast enough to steal a base or two. In high school I always asked my track coach to put me in races with the fastest runners.

I didn’t always win, that’s for sure. But I always wanted to race against the best. In junior college my coach told me I could become fast enough to run professionally if I kept working at it. That’s the first time I ever really thought about becoming a professional athlete.

You beat Asafa Powell for the first time at the Osaka World Championships. There will be a lot of attention on both of you in Beijing.
I hope we will both be on the line in Beijing, and of course we will get a lot of attention, even more attention than in Osaka.

Can I win again? Of course. Could he? Of course. But don’t forget Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas and  Usain Bolt of the US. First I have to make the team at the Olympic Trials. Then we all have to be healthy and at our best.

There have been lot of concerns raised by the long distance runners on quality of air in China.

Do you think it’s a concern for sprinters as well?
I am not too concerned. We all have to compete under the same conditions.

It’s been you or Powell till Bolt arrived on the scene. Do you feel the competition is on the wane in athletics?
Competition on the wane? No, not at all. I think it is more exciting for the fans and the sport to have the biggest rivals meet up at the biggest events, like the Olympics.

If Asafa and I race once or twice before Beijing, that would be great, too. It will give fans a preview. But if me and Asafa and Usain all raced each other every couple of weeks, then the Olympics, assuming we all get there, wouldn’t be as dramatic.

Asafa Powell has been the best sprinter for past couple of years but when it comes to major competitions he hasn’t won any race yet? Do you think he has some kind of a mental block when it comes to major competition?
As a sprinter it is hard to always be at your best, every single time. There is a lot of pressure at the Olympics and I know Asafa feels pressure to do well for his country. He is one of the biggest stars in Jamaica and everyone looks to him to win.

It must be hard for him sometimes. But whether that’s a mental block, I don’t know if you can say that. That is just being human.

2007 was an exceptional year for you and you went on to win Athlete of the Year award? What clicked for you last season and how do you plan to build on it this leading up to the Olympics?
When I ran two fast times early last season, people started to notice me and I really started to believe that I could do something special. Those fast times at the Adidas Track Classic in May and the Reebok Grand Prix in early June told me I had taken a big leap forward at 100 metres.

I did more lifting in the build-up than I ever had before, and I could see that is was paying off. This year I am just trying to do everything the way I did it last year, because it worked so well.

After winning twin titles at the World Championships you said it would have been great if you had created world records along with gold medals. So can we expect world records with gold medals at Beijing?
I am not saying it won’t happen, because it might take a world record to win the 100 and maybe even the 200. But the Olympics are about winning the gold medal, and the time is not that important. That is what this whole year is about, winning the gold medals.

How is your preparation for Olympics shaping up?
My preparation is going well, as the early relay season has shown so far. My daily schedule is that I get up, have something to eat, usually get to the gym by 11 a.m. to lift, then go straight to practice from noon until 2:30 or so.

Sometimes I have interviews to do after that, but usually I stop at McDonald’s or someplace to get some thing to eat on the way home and then relax for the rest of the evening to recover for the next day. Sometimes I play video games or watch some basketball on television.

US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has launched extensive anti-doping test programme called ‘Project Believe’ in the wake of several doping scandals. Are you part of this project can you shed more light on what it is?
Yes, I am part of the USADA pilot testing project, which is now called “My Victory.” In March they tested me six times, urine and blood, and they have tested me twice more since then.

They say they will test me several more times before the Olympics, too, plus I still get other tests in and out of competition. It is a lot, but I am very glad to be a part of the project.

A lot of high-profile US athletes have been caught for doping in recent years. Marion Jones for instance.  How has it affected the athletes in lead up to the Olympics?
It does not affect us except that we keep getting asked about it even though what a few people did has nothing to do with us. I don’t believe it puts US athletics in a bad light. It puts a few people who took performance enhancing drugs in a bad light. The USADA program is proof that the US wants to have clean sport.

Even athletes who are not yet in that program are tested randomly out of competition more than any athletes in the world. Maybe more American athletes are getting caught because so many more

American athletes are being tested so much more often. That should actually put US athletics in a good light, shouldn’t it? How has been people’s reaction after the spate of doping controversies involving athletes in US?
More children in the US do track and field than any other sport. They know that most athletes in the sport are clean, and that you can win when you’re clean. They know you can go about it the right way.

Finally, how will you define yourself — as a person, as an athlete and as a family man?
I want to be remembered as someone who works hard, runs fast and speaks from the heart. I want my family to always be proud of what they see both when I am on the track and off.