Michael Johnson

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Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson at London's Olympic Stadium
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1967-09-13) September 13, 1967 (age 56)
Dallas, Texas, United States of America
ResidenceSan Rafael, California, U.S.
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)[1]
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Sprints
College teamBaylor Bears
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 m: 10.09 (Knoxville 1994)
200 m: 19.32 (Atlanta 1996)
300 m: 30.85 WB (Pretoria 2000)
400 m: 43.18 WR (Sevilla 1999)

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! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;" class="adr" | Representing the  United States

Michael Duane Johnson (born on September 13, 1967), Dallas, Texas is an American retired sprinter. He is widely considered the greatest long sprinter of all time. During his time on the track, he established world records for the 400 m (43.18 Seville, Spain), indoor 400 m, indoor 300 m, 200 m, and 4 × 400 m relay. Due to these achievements, and due to the vast difference between the 200 m and 400 m, Johnson left little doubt that he is the greatest sprinter of all time. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals.[5]

A fifth Olympic gold medal was taken back when it was learned that Johnson's teammates had cheated by using drugs.

Johnson had a unique upright posture when he ran so that he looked like a duck walk, which gave him the nickname The Duck. His running gait did not make sense for running fast, but somehow worked. He won almost every race that he ever ran.

He was the first athlete to win both the 200m and 400m sprints in the same Olympic Games (Atlanta, Georgia).

He retired in 2001, and is a sports commentator on TV. He was a contestant in the 2010 season of The Celebrity Apprentice.

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 [1] Archived 2014-01-13 at the Wayback Machine, profile page, accessed 20 June 1996
  2. "Michael Johnson". Desert Island Discs. October 16, 2011. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  3. Teammate Antonio Pettigrew later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and the International Olympic Committee disqualified the team.
  4. Teammate Antonio Pettigrew later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and the IAAF disqualified the team.
  5. "Michael Johnson profile". Baylor University. 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2008.

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Michael Johnson at Wikimedia Commons