Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Asafa Powell - AP Photos

JAMAICA'S solid sprinter, Usain Bolt, may be the fastest man in the world, but he is in the shadow of countryman Asafa Powell when it comes to being the most-talked-about athlete at the Beijing Olympics.

The American research institution Dow Jones found that Powell is the most talked-about athlete in the world, ranking even above American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won six gold medals in Athens four years ago.

ranked top 10

Dow Jones checked the Olympic reports from July 15-28 of 6,000 major TV and print media all over the world and ranked the top-10 most-mentioned names.

It said that the name most mentioned by the media is Powell, who held the men's 100-metre record for three years until May 31, 2008, when he was beaten by Bolt. Gay is ranked second, while Bolt is not in the top 10. Bolt does not make the list.

Powell has 17 per cent of the total 3,807 mentions of athletes being tracked, while Gay, with 13 per cent, is second.

Dow Jones has not provided a ranking for Bolt, but information out of Beijing suggests he is one of the most sought-after athletes at the Games.

bolt in powell's shadow

Usain Bolt

Bolt, who is relatively new to international competition, has been a hit on the interactive site Youtube since he broke countryman Asafa Powell's world record. Despite this, Bolt sits in Powell's shadow based on Youtube views of posted stellar performances.

Two Youtube video clips of Bolt's new world-record run of 9.72 seconds had views of 270,560 and 337,357 on Thursday. These clips were posted in June.

Compare this to views of Michael Johnson's out-of-this-world performance in the 200 metres at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Nearly 429,000 persons have viewed a Youtube clip of Johnson's race in which he recorded a world record of 19.32 seconds. This clip was posted in January of 2007.

But it is Asafa who leads this interactive race. His 9.77 run in 2006 in Zurich has attracted nearly 578,000 views. This clip was posted in December 2006.

Powell's 9.74 run in Rieti, Italy, has so far attracted 228,500 clicks. This clip was posted in September 2007.

favourite clip

Tyson Gay chasing down Powell and beating him at last year's World Championship is also a favourite among Youtube visitors. The most popular of these clips, which was posted in August 2007, has attracted 237,830 people thus far.

Powell bows into sprinting action on Thursday when he competes in the heats of the 100 metres.

A week from today, Bolt will again line up in the heats of the 200 metres. Four years ago, he failed to advance past this round. Bolt, who was recovering from injury posted a pedestrian 21.05 for fifth place. That was the end of his Olympics.

Powell returned home empty-handed from Athens after finishing fifth in the final. His personal best time of 9.93 seconds could not beat Justin Gatlin, who is now serving a ban for using banned drugs.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com