Michael Johnson

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Born
1967 (58 years old)
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Dallas, Texas, United States

Position
Sprinter

Status

Ethnicity
White

Team Number

Height
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)

Weight
175 lb (79 kg)

Outfitter

Kit
Wage Year

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Archive

Full Body Render

Sport

Athletics

Team
_Retired Athletics

2nd Team

League
_Defunct Athletics Teams

Creative Commons Artwork
No

Latest Results

					Mens 400 metres Final	30 Jul 96

Description

Michael Duane Johnson (born September 13, 1967) is a retired American sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals in the span of his career. He formerly held the world and Olympic records in the 200 m and 400 m, as well as the world record in the indoor 400 m. He also once held the world's best time in the 300 m. Johnson is generally considered one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of track and field.

Johnson is the only male athlete in history to win both the 200 metres and 400 metres events at the same Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Johnson is also the only man to successfully defend his Olympic title in the 400 m, having done so at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Aside from his Olympic success, Johnson accumulated eight gold medals at the World Championships and is tied with Carl Lewis for the fourth most gold medals won by a runner.

Johnson's distinctive stiff upright running position and very short steps defied the conventional wisdom that a high knee lift was necessary for maximum speed. As of 2012, Johnson holds 13 of the top 100 times for the 200 metres and 27 of the top 100 times for the 400 metres. Of those, he holds 14 of the top 25 times for the 400 metres. He broke 44 seconds for the 400 metres 22 times, more than twice as many times as any other athlete.

Johnson held the national records for the 200, 300 and 400 metres. The 4 × 400 metres relay world record was anchored by Johnson.

Since 2001, he has worked at the BBC, appearing as a pundit at multiple events. He has been a part of the BBC's Olympics athletics coverage since Beijing 2008.

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