Tuesday, 07 July 2009
Mike Powell aims to return to competition
Bressanone/Brixen, Italy – World Long Jump record holder Mike Powell talked eloquently about his role as an IAAF Ambassador on the eve of the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships at the traditional IAAF/LOC Press conference but then dropped a gentle bombshell after he stepped down from the podium.
“I’m aiming to compete again next year. Yes, you heard me right,” said the affable 45-year-old American, whose 1991 World Championships winning leap of 8.95m has yet to be surpassed.
Kilo count
Powell acknowledged that he isn’t out to challenge the current generation. He admits that the competition provided by the likes of Dwight Phillips, Irving Saladino, Sebastian Bayer and Godfrey Mokoena is just too hot and eight metres is almost certainly beyond him these days.
“But I’m out for the Masters over-45 world record. I’ve checked it out, 7.30m, I can do that.” In fact, it stands to Finland’s Tapani Taavitsainen at 7.27m, a mark set back in 1990.
“I started doing some work on my run up a few weeks ago but my knee started hurting. In truth, I’m carrying too much weight at the moment for my joints to be comfortable with what I want to do.
“I’m about 92kg at the moment. I need to get down to around 80 or 82kg but that’s no big problem. I lose weight fairly easily, I’ve done that before, every couple of years, but I also seem to gain weight pretty quickly if I’m not paying too much attention.
“But once the weight comes off a little, I’m serious and I’ll be getting back and doing some good training.”
“The diet starts as soon as I get home after this event (the World Youth Championships). It’s just too tempting being here in Italy, with all the pasta and pizza in front of me, to start right now,” added Powell, with a broad smile on his face and the look of a man who loves his food as well as being hungry for the feeling of flying through the air again.
Turning back the clock
Powell last competed in 2003, when he was 39, and he has often expressed an interest in jumping again in the six years since he last donned his spikes in competition. He also admitted that he had to constantly fend off various challenges from the teenagers he coaches in California in the past.
Finally, he has found the lure too difficult to resist.
It is a change-of-heart from his position at the end of last year, when he attended the International Athletics Foundation Gala in Monaco last November.
Asked about the possibility of him having to knock sand out of his shoes again, he gave a wonderfully self-deprecating response. “I wear a lot of black. It’s a wonderful colour and definitely very effective in disguising the fact that I might not be in as good a shape as I like people to think I am.”
“I try to dress strategically so that I still look pretty slim but, when everything is off, it’s not a pretty sight! I’m done, that’s behind me now. I’d like to compete again but every time I start training it hurts too much,” joked Powell.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
