‘Asafa Not A Bottler,’ Says Irish Fan
I am a 19-yr-old athlete from Ireland and a huge fan of Asafa. I have been watching his rollercoaster of a career intensely since 2003. I remember the 4x100m relay final at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, when we saw Asafa take on England’s Darren Campbell in the home straight. Here, the world watched a great duel and a fight for gold. There was no sign of a bottler* sprinter here as Asafa put up quite a challenge to Campbell.
Afterwards, I learnt to my astonishment that the budding young 19-yr-old wasn't even training seriously for long, maybe one or two years with a proper coach. That made me think, well, if he’s only 19, not serious, and he’s nearly holding off England’s best sprinter, maybe he could become something.
The year after, 2003, we all remember Jon Drummond’s little tantrum on the track, and Asafa's reaction in that whole fiasco. It was nice to see at least once, a 100m sprinter walk off in a calm way, as if he didn't care about being disqualified. For once we saw a humble sprinter, who didn't rip off his vest in anger, prowling around and intimidating officials – something that we saw a lot during those years.
People need to remember that after having a proper winter with Stephen Francis, Asafa was running a ¼ second faster after one season, and we wondered if he could carry that momentum into the future. I remember the first of his big flops in Athens 2004, then the second in Osaka 2007, and then a third in Beijing in 2008. Everybody by then had clearly thought that his problem was between his ears but not everybody is a true fan and believer in Asafa's potential.
As someone who has looked up to the man and studied what he does, I know that there’s no problem at all between his ears. Asafa's achilles’ heel is without doubt his inability to run rounds. Of course, the Olympic Games and World Championships are tough for the brain, but the world has come to learn the nature of a Jamaican is to not worry, as if Matthew 6:25 was etched into their brains at birth.
The critic will always use the 2006 Commonweath Games in Melbourne as an example to support their point. Here we saw Asafa take the gold easy. They will say it’s a small title, and that those are the only ones he will win. They say that this is the only one in which he has performed properly; they drown it as an example of his good performances when it doesn't matter and bad when it does. But, in truth, Asafa never performed at all in Melbourne; he ran 10.03, which is rubbish to his standard. The critics never thought of the fact that he did not run fast and that it was easy for him, thinking that he has performed once.
WHAT I WOULD DO FOR ASAFA IS...
Asafa ran rounds in Melbourne but still won even though he ran a slow time. It’s obvious to me that he can’t run a world record or a personal best after three rounds. What I would do for Asafa is to take two days out of his training to find out if the inability to run rounds truly is the case. I would set up a competition scenario, pretending that he was at the Olympics. I’d make him do a full competition warm-up in the morning, and sprint 100m as if it were a race, running a time that would get him through, e.g. 10.2/10.3. After that, a full warm-down, and a break of a few hours or a length of time that a major competition would have between the first round and quarter final of the 100m.
Next, I’d make him do the full warm-up again and run the "quarter final" as it were, running it a little faster than before. The next day, repeat the process with the semi-final, running what would usually be a sub-10 secs. run. After a cool-down and a few hours, he should do a full warm-up, and run 100m as if it were the "final", if he does not run a seriously quick time, it is clear that the problem lies with his legs, not in his head.
Now, I know that there are several factors to take into account, such as being race-smart and race-fast and mentally prepared to run as hard as you ever have with just your coach and the clock watching you. But what the test requires is the same scenario as a major competition; no shortcuts will really answer the question.
To carry out this test and keep it fair on the athlete, it should be done in a non-competition year, depending on what shape he’s in. But in my eyes, it’s the only way critics will know. Stamina is an easy thing to fix, not training-wise, however, it’s easy to figure out how to fix it.
Asafa's head is fine; he ran a flying 8.70 sec relay leg in the Olympic Games last year. He set three world records in two years, and ran 9.74 jogging in Rieti two years ago. It should be obvious by now that Asafa is NOT a bottler, he is just tired in the final after three rounds.
I hope Stephen Francis has come to terms with the problem over the winter, and has made his competition stamina better. One is desperate to see one of the most talented men in history take an individual title. I hope Asafa is ready 100% in Berlin. I want him to take the gold more than Bolt and I want him to reach 9.4 or 9.5 before Bolt does. I wish him the best.
-Conor McLaughlin. Aug. 10, 2009
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Who’s A
Bottler?
The writer explains…
A bottler is a term given to someone who appears to flop or loose all sense of focus when it matters. For example, if I bottled an exam, it means that I learned all the requirements, but had a mind blank when I did the exam. It’s somebody who cannot perform when the pressure is on. I would like to make it clear, that Asafa is not a bottler.
It’s hard to establish who real bottlers are in sprinting, especially with regard to Jamaicans. I know that Jamaican kids, for most of their childhood, would race more than actually train. So, most of them have grown up in competition and should have no reason to be nervous or scared of a championship. When I hear people call Asafa a bottler, they mean that he has had many opportunities to shine and win a major competition, but underperformed due to pressure of the big stage.