Yet another phenomenal athlete in the top 10, Michael Johnson dominated the 200m and 400m athletic events in the nineties, and was also a vital figurehead in the USA’s 4x400m relay team throughout the era.
Dubbed ‘The man with the golden shoes’, due to his flashy choice of footwear, Johnson held the world record for the fastest 200m for 13 years. Eventually his time was finally beaten by Usain Bolt, and more recently Yohan Blake. Nevertheless, the American’s time of 19.32 seconds remains the Olympic record to this day. Although this could all change come London 2012.
At least Johnson can sleep easy safe in the knowledge that he still holds the current world record for the 400m, running it in a rapid 43.18, a time which the present day 400m runners seem some way off beating.
So it comes as no surprise then that Johnson is no stranger to medals. He knows a lot about them, particularly gold ones:
“They don’t give you gold medals for beating somebody. They give you gold medals for beating everyone.”
Funnily enough that’s exactly what he did. He won Olympic golds at Barcelona ’92, two at Atlanta ’96 and one in Sydney on the Millennium, to cap off one the most impressive sporting performances of the decade.
Johnson also won a further eight gold medals at the World Championships from Tokyo, Stuttgart, Gothenburg, Athens and Seville.
These days you’re more likely to see Johnson giving his expertise to the BBC as commentator for their coverage of athletic competitions. Which means he had to sit in a chair and watch his 200m record be ravaged right in front of his eyes. That must have been quite painful. In that case he might not want to read tomorrows article then - because he has obviously read them all up until now…
Matthew Sanders
