EVERY time former 100-metres world record-holder Asafa Powell goes on the track this season he will be honouring the memory of his brothers, Michael and Vaughn, who passed away within a year of each other early in his career.

Powell, who is known for his strong family ties, will have two diamonds on his newly-designed Li Ning competition spikes this season, representing his brothers whom he told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday, were “my first and biggest fans”.

Powell, who spoke to the Observer during a photo shoot for telecommunications company Lime, one of his sponsors, said when he met with the representatives of the shoe company last year to plan the design, “We tried to make it as much of me as possible, so there were a lot of research and what we came up with was this: my family ties. These two diamonds are for my two brothers who passed.”

Michael was shot in a taxi cab in Brooklyn in 2002, just before the National Trials, while Vaughn died of a heart attack almost a year later while playing football.

“Everything I do this year will be in their honour,” Powel told the Observer. “They were my two biggest fans and they supported me all the way from the start, so they are never far from my mind each time I go on the track.”

Powell, who missed the IAAF World Championships last year due to an injury, has said he is fully fit this year and will be gunning for his first Olympic medal in the 100m.

He is due to run his first individual outdoor race this season at the Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium on May 5.