One of the World's Greatest Ever Athletes

Michael Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever track athletes. His world record in the Mens 200m stood until Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke it at the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008. He was the first man to be ranked number one in the world at both 200m and 400m.



It was not until 1996 that he won an individual medal at the Olympics. Johnson was the overwhelming favourite to win the 200m at the 1992 Olympics, but he contracted food poisoning twelve days before the Opening Ceremony. He did not recover quickly and was eliminated in the
semi-finals. He did win a gold medal as a member of the U.S. 4x400m relay team
.

By the time of the 1996 Olympics, Johnson had won 54 straight finals at 400m and had not been beaten at that distance in seven years. He had no trouble in the Olympic final, winning by ten metres, the largest margin of victory in the event in 100 years. Three nights later, Johnson raced in the 200m final.



At the U.S. Olympic trials, he had run a 19.66 to break the 17-year-old world record. In Atlanta, he ran a phenomenal 19.32 to defeat Frank Fredericks of Namibia by four metres. In 1999, Johnson broke the 11-year-old 400m world record with a time of 43.18 seconds. He went to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 having won the 400m at the last four world championships. He won again in the Olympic final to become the first man to win the 400m twice. Finally, he anchored the U.S. 4x400m relay team to victory to bring his career gold medal total to five.



He was also nicknamed the “Duck” for his unique running style, characterized by his head bobbing backwards and forward, straightness of his back and not much arm drive. When asked by a reporter, “If you had a usual running technique like other runners do you think you would go faster?” Johnson responded by saying “If I ran like all the other runners, I would be back there with them.”



Since retiring from competitive sport he has worked as a television athletics pundit, often for the BBC.

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