Kolkata: Long jump world record holder Mike Powell on Thursday mentioned Usain Bolt in the same bracket as that of the legendary Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis, saying that the Jamaican would have gone past his record if he had trained for it.
While choosing between Lewis and Bolt as the greatest athlete, Powell, who set a world record of a 8.95 mt jump at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, said, “I think potentially Usain Bolt. I think that he could have long jumped nine metres had he trained for it.”
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The 54-year-old, who is the brand ambassador of the Tata Steel 25K Marathon to be held in the city this Sunday further added, “But I will have to give to Carl but maybe even Jesse Owens cos he broke four world records in one afternoon. But you talk about great athletes and three of them are definitely top of the list.”
During the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Powell had engaged in some serious competition with Lewis, who despite pulling off three of his best jumps and a wind-aided attempt after American Bob Beamon’s record of 8.9, he finished as the second best to Powell.
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When asked about sprinting and it’s future after Bolt’s retirement, he said that it’s good to have the monopoly of an athlete in a sport done away with and also encouraged the younger generation and step up and take over the mantle of the team.
“Having Bolt, he was so dominant for so long that people said what’s going to happen after he finishes. But they said the same thing about Carl Lewis then Michael Johnson came on, and then Usain came along after that. So someone will come and fill the void. Hopefully it will be a number of people. When I was competing, it was the golden era. Now maybe we will get back to that time,” he said.
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While judging as to whether Bolt’s dominance is harmful for the sport or not, Powell said, “I agree. Same thing happened when I was competing. Carl was the dominant one. They would not have long jump competitions if Carl was not there. That time, I was on my way up. I took that as an incentive to get better. So hopefully someone will take the opportunity and stand up now.”
The American further rated female athlete Jackie Joyner Kersee as being one the all-time bests in long jump and heptathlon.
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“Jackie Joyner-Kersee is one of the greatest athletes of all time, period. Man or woman. She was a big inspiration for me. She trained in the same school in LA as me and I used to watch her. She was a big motivating factor for me,” he said.
Powell, despite being a world record holder and one of the biggest names in his sport, never won an Olympic gold medal and when asked to whether he would to swap his records for an elusive Olympic gold medal event, he said, “I talk to Carl about this all the time. I say maybe I will take three long jump gold medals and a 100 metres gold medal then maybe I will give up the world record.”
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Further adding that he and Lewis are good friends now unlike their playing days when they were rivals, he said, “I see him pretty much like once a year. We are friends now and I am happy to see him. We have a good conversation and laugh about the past. It’s fun to see him now. Before I see him and ‘urrrgghh’ I wanna fight but now it’s like we appreciate the competitions we had in the past.”