Powell, Ndure, Bailey – „two fast men, and an old one…“

Sometimes, press conferences can be boring, with empty questions and with “yes” and “no” as answers. And sometimes, there are brief press conferences which are full of esprit, fun and content.

Asafa Powell, Jaysuma Saidy Ndure and Donovan Bailey gave life to such a fine moment of communication at the meeting with the media in view of the ExxonMobil Bislett Games. Meet director Steinar Hoen introduced the three guys on the podium as three fast men – and was corrected by Bailey. “Here are just two fast men, and an old one”, Canada’s Olympic Champion said. Laughter. How he would run nowadays the 100 meter, Bailey was asked. “I would be very slow, I would need 10 minutes maybe”. Laughter.

Then, it was a discussion between experts. Asafa Powell, who won in Oslo in 2006, 2007 and 2009 said that he has done a lot of work on different parts of the body and that everything seems to be going smooth. “I’ve heard that you focused on the final 30 meters in the training”, Bailey asked. Powell nodded, “I have one of the best starts in the field, that’s not an issue.” And he added, looking to the diamond in front of him: “In this year, my goal is to win as many races as possible.” Doing so, he would take home one of the prices in IAAF Diamond League.

Jaysuma Ndure’s goals are high as well, but different. While Powell is focusing of victories and World record times – at this stage of the season, he’s the fastest man in 2010 – Ndure will try to run the 100 meters under 10 seconds as the first Norwegian ever. “I started with 10.01 in Doha, and this year was my best ever until now. I hope that I can match the expectations of the crowd. Maybe, Asafa will push me deep under 10 seconds…”

All three agreed that Bislett Stadium is a phenomenal place to compete. Donovan Bailey remembered a 200m victory in Oslo: “It was the longest race I’ve ever run in my life – but, hey, the weather was nice, I won, it was a good day. Now, I am looking forward to the show on Friday!”