Jamaica's Asafa Powell has predicted that there could be a 100 metres world record in the blue riband event at the Athens Olympics.
"I am in world record shape and it could take that to get the gold medal," said the 21-year-old sprinter who is among the favourites in the race for the unofficial title of the World's Fastest Man.The 100m world record of 9.78 seconds was set by US sprinter Tim Montgomery in 2002.
Montgomery, the boyfriend of Marion Jones, is currently fighting allegations of drug use and failed to qualify for the Olympics.
Powell's main rivals for the 100m title are the US trio of reigning Olympic champion Maurice Greene, Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford.
Crawford stands on top of this year's rankings with 9.88 secs while Powell is second with 9.91 secs.
However, Powell has been the most consistent man this summer, winning two of the three Golden League meetings where the 100m was contested and twice defeating Greene.
World records have been a regular feature of the 100m at recent Games.
In the 40 years since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, there has been a world record set in four of the last 10 Olympic 100m finals.
