his second consecutive World Athletic Final 100 m win, with yet another championship record. For the third consecutive year Powell won the Caribbean And Central American (CAC) Male Athlete of the Year award. Powell closed the year receiving the IAAF Performance of the Year award, for his 9.74 s world record, and was ranked second in the world. 2008–2009: Olympics and World Championships On 29 January 2008, Powell received the RJR Sports Foundation's 2007 Sportsman of the Year award. Powell's 2008 season started much as his 2007 season ended: with another injury. Powell was forced to pull out of the Sydney Grand Prix meeting, having suffered a gash to his left knee that required four stitches. The injury was a result of tripping on the steps of his home, hours before getting on the flight to Sydney on 12 February. Powell was again injured in April, this time with damage to his pectoral muscles. The injury forced Powell out of competition for two months, and was sustained while weight training in Jamaica during mid-April. Surgery was required, and a visible scar was left on his right underarm. On 31 May, fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt ran a time of 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, breaking Powell's 3-year dominance of the 100 m world record. On 11 July, Powell suffered his third injury of 2008 while leading in Heat 1 of the Golden Gala Roma, eventually finishing fifth. He had injured his groin (described as a "strain" and a "cramp"), and was forced to miss the next two events on the Grand Prix schedule. Powell made his comeback at the DN Galan meet, where he beat the new World Record holder Bolt, in a close race. The meet's top performers were a Jamaican 1–2–3–4 with Nesta Carter and Michael Frater following the pair. This top four would later combine to run the 4 × 100 m relay at the Olympics. Prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Powell hit back at the claims saying he lacked the mental strength needed to win an Olympic gold medal. Despite his words, the 100 m final saw Powell again finish in a disappointing fifth, recording a time of 9.95 s. Teammates Bolt and Michael Frater also raced in the final. Bolt won and broke the record he set months earlier (finishing in 9.69 s) and Frater came sixth, recording his