Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Athletics, Usain Bolt, Olympics
Jakob Barnes
Ask anyone in the street who the fastest sprinter of all time is and they would almost certainly say Usain Bolt. But, the man himself once admitted another athlete was capable of beating him across 100 metres.
Bolt's 100m sprint record of 9.58 seconds set in 2009 has still not been beaten to this day, and there's a good chance it never will be broken. The Jamaican is undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes of the 21st century, and is a name synonymous with the world of athletics.
But, before Bolt emerged, there was another incredible Jamaican sprinter who set world records and put his country on the map, and he may well have given Bolt a run for his money at his peak.
That man, of course, is Asafa Powell. The sprinter held the 100m sprint record from 2005 with a 9.77 seconds run, until Bolt surpassed him four years later. However, with so little to separate the two compatriots, it's not surprising to hear that Bolt held Powell in high regard.
Powell told The Guardian: "I think in the entire world I'm the only person that has always scared him. He's always been telling me that over the years.
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"I get the truth out of him when he drinks a bit. He gets a bit tipsy and he's like, 'Asafa, you're the only man in the world I think can beat me.'"
Turns out, even when Bolt had broken the world record, he still had concerns that Powell could do better and take it away from him.
Powell added: "He first told me that in 2008. After [the record breaking sprint]. Just before the Olympics. He'd just run 9.72. And he said, 'You're the only man in the world who I think can beat me.'"
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At the time of the interview in 2011, Powell had indeed found himself back at the top of his discipline once more, taking the number one ranking after a 9.78 second sprint, making him a tenth of a second faster than Bolt at that moment.
The pair shared a great mutual respect throughout their careers, supporting one another and pushing themselves and each other to run faster. Whoever was truly the fastest of the two, both Powell and Bolt will go down in history as two of the top sprinters to ever grace the track.