(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-27 12:12

OSAKA, Japan - Asafa Powell may be the world's fastest man but he is not a great competitor, nine-times world champion Michael Johnson said after the Jamaican was beaten to the world 100m title on Sunday night.

Tyson Gay of the U.S. and Asafa Powell of Jamaica (R) compete in the men's 100 metres final at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championship in Osaka August 26, 2007. [AP]

Until world record holder Powell accepts that fact, he will never learn to be a great competitor, former 200m and 400m champion Johnson said.

"Asafa Powell is a great talent but he's not a great competitor, you can see it in his eyes," Johnson said after the 25-year-old was beaten into bronze in Osaka by champion Tyson Gay and silver-medallist Derrick Atkins.

"He can learn to be a great competitor, but first you have to admit that you're not.

"As a competitor, even though it looks like it may be over, you don't give up until it's completely done and I've never seen a world record holder drop his head and give up in a major final," American Johnson said in a column on BBC Online.

"That should have been a silver he won, but he didn't, he got a bronze.

"Asafa didn't run the same race as he ran in the preliminary rounds because in the preliminary rounds, as when he broke the world record, he was ahead and there wasn't the same pressure."

Johnson said things would become even harder for Powell over the next year.

"This year there was only one American in the final but that is going to change with collegiate champion Walter Dix coming through and guys like Marc Burns of Trinidad and Tobago.

"Also, Derrick Atkins' confidence will be boosted by his silver medal and he'll go into the next major championship thinking that he's supposed to be there now. Asafa will now have to deal with him.

"Atkins is a pure power runner and that's what got him through to the silver medal. He just took advantage of the fact that Asafa gave up."