100 yd: 9.07 WR (Ostrava, 2010) 100 m: 9.72 s (Lausanne, 2008) 200 m: 19.90 s (Kingston, 2006) Asafa Powell CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres.

Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of 9.72 s ranking fourth on the all-time list of men's 100-metre athletes.

In 2013, Powell tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine along with teammate Sherone Simpson and voluntarily withdrew from the 2013 World Athletics Championships as a result, though both maintained they did not take any banned supplements knowingly or willfully.

However the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted both athletes' suspensions on 14 July 2014, finding that the positive tests were caused by the presence of oxilofrine, undisclosed by the manufacturer, in a supplement taken by the pair.

Powell never had a chance to run for a medal in the final as the second baton exchange was not executed cleanly and the Jamaican team failed to finish.

[17] In 2004 on 12 June, Powell recorded his first sub-10 100 m race time (9.99 s +1.8 m/s) while participating in the National Junior Track and Field Championships, held at the GC Foster College in Spanish Town.

[18] Two weeks later Powell became one of the favourites for a medal in the 100 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics after winning the Jamaican National Championships with a personal best time of 9.91 s. Although he ended the season with a record-equaling nine sub-10 second runs, Powell finished just fifth in the highly competitive Olympic final, with a time of 9.94 s. Following this he pulled out of the 200 m final, even though he had already qualified eighth for it earlier on.

[19] Powell did not get the chance to run for a medal in the 4 × 100 m relay, as the Jamaican team failed to qualify for the final with a season best 38.71 s fourth-place finish in their heat.

[42] Powell ended his season on 30 September with a left hamstring injury, which came about while running in the lead of the 200 m race at the Super Track & Field meet in Yokohama, Japan.

Powell was forced to pull out of the Sydney Grand Prix meeting, having suffered a gash to his left knee that required four stitches.

On 31 May, fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt ran a time of 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, breaking Powell's 3-year dominance of the 100 m world record.

[51] Powell made his comeback at the DN Galan meet, where he beat the new World Record holder Bolt, in a close race.

[54] The gold medal was later vacated by the IOC in 2017 when a retest of teammate Nesta Carter found the presence of the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.

[57] On his return to Jamaica, Powell was honoured in a homecoming celebration and received an Order of Distinction (Commander Rank) in recognition of his achievements at the Olympics.

[22] Powell opened his 2009 season on 31 January at the Grace Jackson Invitational, held at Stadium East, Kingston, Jamaica.

Competing at the Melbourne Track Classic he ran a world leading[64] 10.23 s, wind measuring −1.4 m/s on the coldest day of the year to date.

The Jamaica Observer cited a "highly placed source" when reporting that Powell had turned his ankle in training at Utech.

[71] Despite the report, Powell ran the anchor leg of the relay but aggravated the ankle injury,[72] pulled up and finished ninth in 41.24 s.[73] Scheduled to run at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Doha on 8 May, Powell withdrew from the event, citing the need for sufficient time for his injured ankle to properly heal.

[79] Four days later he recorded the same time in winning the Athletissima 100 m.[80] Although he improved his season's best to 9.88 s, he finished second to Tyson Gay at the Golden Gala Roma on 10 July.

Powell next competed at the DKF Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, where he powered to a splendid victory with a wind-aided 9.72 s. A week later, he competed at the Golden Gala in Rome, Italy, where he overcame a very poor reaction time at the start to take another victory in a World Leading time of 9.82 s. It was reported that Powell ended his six-year contract with leading sports brand Nike due to sponsorship problems, and rumours spread that he has a new contract with fast upcoming Chinese sports brand Li-Ning.

Powell had a superb start and mid, but he faded towards the end, only to allow the world record holder to surpass him in the final 10–12 m of the race.

Powell was indeed happy with his strong performance, his fastest in three years, and full of confidence about the rest of the season and IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Koreaa in late August.

Powell expressed great disappointment but vowed to come back strong for the London Olympics in 2012, but still hoped to run the 4x100 m relay in Daegu.

However, he was unfit to run the relay and had to watch his compatriots win gold in a world record time of 37.04 s. Powell competed in the 100 m at the Diamond League Final in Zürich on 9 September.

In a ceremony held on 24 February, Powell received the University of Technology (UTech) Chancellor's Medal as well as Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award International Ambassador role.

On the 2012 IAAF Diamond League circuit, he was narrowly beaten by Justin Gatlin in Doha (runner-up in 9.88 seconds), then won the 100 m at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix a week later.

As a result, Powell along with longtime rival Tyson Gay who finished 4th, remain as two of the three fastest men of all time to never have won any individual Olympic medals of any type.

Powell released an apparel and accessories line branded "Sub 10 King" and many others, also opening up his personal website www.iamasafa.com for people's viewing and a platform to purchase his products.

[92][93] Powell and fellow Jamaican sprinter, Sherone Simpson had taken the supplement Epiphany D1 as part of their training regimen, not knowing it contained oxilofrine.

[96] On 19 August 2016, Powell made a triumphant Olympic return, competing as part of the Jamaican 4 × 100 m men's relay team and winning a gold medal.