AP
Jamaica's Asafa Powell and Michael Frater (left) after the men's 100m final yesterday.

BEIJING (CMC):

FOUR YEARS after fading to fifth place in yet another Olympic Games 100 metres, Jamaica's former world record holder Asafa Powell admits he just was not ready for the big stage.

After failing in the last couple of years to land a major global title on the big stages, Powell promised that this year would be the year of delivery.

But after looking well set to win a medal in men's 100 metres at the Beijing Olympics, the Jamaican choked once again and was left disappointed yesterday.

"I wasn't ready for the big stage yet," a disappointing Powell told reporters after failing to make his mark in Beijing. "I'm not sure what happened. I messed up big time, my legs died on me."

An Olympics 100m showdown, that was billed as 'three-the-hard- way' between Powell, American Tyson Gay, and record holder Usain Bolt, finished with the latter running unchallenged all the way to the line in a superlative 9.69 seconds World record performance.

Despite finishing out of medal contention, Powell took the time to extend his congratulations to a teammate, and a man he described as his very good friend.

"I really wanted to get that gold medal," Powell said, "but I'm happy for Usain."

Meanwhile, Don Anderson, chef de mission of Jamaica's delegation, said the team was disappointed in Powell's performance.

Anderson, who described Bolt's run as "amazing as the screen showed it", said the only disappointment was Powell.

"The disappointment is that Asafa did not get the silver, because we thought he would have, but we are very happy for the gold ... we are ecstatic," he said.

Additional reporting by Anthony Foster