TOKYO: Only a month ago Bob Beamon turned his back on Mike Powell.

Next time they meet the story may be different. Powell took ample revenge on his fellow American by shattering his 23-yrold long jump world record on Friday.

“I have tremendous respect for Bob” Powell said at a news conference the day after his incredible 8.95-meter leap made him world champion. “But I don’t seem to get the same respect from him.

“He just talked about Carl Lewis breaking his record. Anyway I hope he feels the same about me now.”

Powell said he saw Beamon in Los Angeles atan Olympic Festival meeting in July. “I remember seeing him walking out of the stadium as I was on the runway. I took personal offence to that” he said.

“He turned his back on me while I was on the runway and walked up the stairs. So this is kind of extra special to do this”.

The 27-yr-old Powell said he had videotape of Beamon’s 8.90meter winning jump at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 a leap which broke the then record by a massive 55 cms.

“People get to watch it and say “wow nobody can jump that far”. But I looked at it for inspiration and motivation. I say “I can jump that far” he said

Powell said he stopped watching the video about a year ago once he felt sure he could break the 8.90-meter barrier

The Olympic silver medalist was delighted to have ended Lewis’s 10-year unbeaten run and was not amused that the former world champion had predicted he would never jump so far again.

“I won last night” he said. “I’m the world champion and the world record champion and the world record holder and his unbeaten streak is over so he has nothing to say”.

He said Lewis had avoided competition in the past to protect his undefeated run. “I’m not going to try to protect my victory” he added “I’m ready to jump against him anytime he wants to.”

Powell said his next aim was to jump nine meters.

Officials statistic released after the final showed Powell increased his speed from an average of 10.79 meters per second to 10.94 in the final 10 meters

Article extracted from this publication >> September 20, 1991