RICARDO MAKYN, Staff Photographer. -
U.S. 200m Olympic sprinter Shawn Crawford (left), signs autographs for students of Kingston College on North Street, Kingston, during a visit from Jamaican sprint coach Trevor Graham and his athletes on Monday.
OLYMPIC GAMES 200 metres champion Shawn Crawford said he was not concerned about the looming threats of Jamaican sprinters, Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt.
In fact, Crawford, winner of the Athens 200m in 19.79, said they should be thinking about him.
"I don't think about them. Why should I?" he asked. "I have to think about me," he told The Gleaner on a visit to KC on Monday.
Crawford, also the American 60m indoor champion, believes he would be at a disadvantage if he thinks about other athletes. "If I am thinking about them while I am training, then they have already beaten me," he said.
"I've got to think about me and what I have got to do. I don't worry about anybody else. I don't even think about Justin (Gatlin) and I train with him. So why would I think about Asafa (Powell) and the others?" he asked.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Crawford's coach, Trevor Gra-ham, in an interview last month said if it wasn't for technical problems, Bolt would have won the Olympic gold medal.
"I think if he had corrected these things, he should have been the Olympic (200m) gold medallist. I expected him to run my guys to the line, and once I got there (Athens) I heard he was injured. I didn't know he was injured," Graham, a member of Jamaica's 1988 Olympic silver medal mile relay team, said.
As for this summer World Championships, Crawford said: "I don't even know what to expect from myself but just expect some good things."
