POWELL

SYDNEY, Australia (CMC):

Jamaica's 100-metre world record holder Asafa Powell is calling for a life-ban on drug cheats.

In a Sunday Herald newspaper story, Powell suggested that drug cheats were on the scene competing and should be severely punished.

"It's a very unfair sport. I get my satisfaction from beating whoever I think is on it. They should be banned," he said.

"They're doing, something illegal and when you do something illegal, you should be punished. So, I would say yes, give them a life ban," added Powell, who holds the 100-metre world record at 9.74 seconds.

Powell believes some current athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs, but he stayed away from calling names.

Suspicions

"I have a lot of suspicions but I keep them to myself. It's always going to be there, that dark cloud, because people are wondering who is really on drugs," said Powell, who is in Australia for a series of early season meets.

Powell, who was drug-tested in December and January, missed Saturday's Sydney Grand Prix meet because of a laceration of the knee which he suffered when he fell while rushing up his stairs at home in Jamaica.

This is a big year for Powell, who is developing the reputation of choking on the big occasion.

He failed to medal at the Athens Olympics after splendid performances in the early rounds made him a strong favourite to finish among the top three. And last year - as the gold medal favourite - he was relegated to third at the Osaka World Championship.

First major title

The 2006 Commonwealth Games champion will have the chance at the Beijing Olympics in August to answer his detractors by landing his first major title.

"I need to stay focused and not repeat mistakes. Olympics is something that I really would love to win. I'm the fastest man in the world, so people expect you to win those events," Powell told the Sunday Herald.

"Once I keep running fast, then no one else will beat me, because there's no one else running my times," said Powell, who has run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds 33 times.

Only the retired Maurice Greene, who has run under 10 seconds 52 times, has more sub-10 clockings in his career and Powell is the only man to have run legally under 9.80 seconds more than once, having done so five times, and the only man to have run legally under 10.00 seconds 12 times in a single season.