Michael Johnson

About

Michael is a 4-time Olympic gold medalist, record smasher, and one of the fastest men to ever compete at track and field. He is the only male athlete in history to win both the 200 m and 400 m events at the same Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also the only man to successfully defend his Olympic title in the 400 m.

His 200 metre time of 19.32 at the 1996 Summer Olympics stood as the record for over 12 years.

Aside from his Olympic success Johnson accumulated eight gold medals at World Championships, and is thus tied with Carl Lewis for the most gold medals won by any runner in history.

Johnson was noted for his unique running style. His stiff upright stance and very short steps defied the conventional wisdom stating that a high knee lift was essential for maximum speed.

In 1997 Johnson began appearing in Nike television advertisements in which he was billed as “the world’s fastest man” as a result of his 200 m world record.

At the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, Johnson anchored the U.S. 4 x 400 m relay team with Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, and Tyree Washington to a win and set a world record of 2:54.20.

Johnson ended his career at the 2000 Summer Olympics by winning gold medal in the 400 m, which brought his total number of Olympic gold medals to four. By winning the 400 m, he earned the distinction of being the oldest gold medalist at any track event shorter than 5000 m in Olympic history.

Johnson was elected to the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004, where his 200 m performance at the 1996 Olympics was named the greatest track and field moment of the last 25 years.

Johnson’s sport management company, Ultimate Performance, serves as agent for track and field athletes.

Michael Johnson appeared as a contestant on NBC’s 9th season of The Celebrity Apprentice (2010).

As of 1st April 2012, Johnson holds 13 of the top 100 times for the 200 metres and 27 of the top 100 times for the 400 meters. Of those, he holds 14 of the top 25 times for the 400 meters.

Michael Johnson is well-known as an excellent motivational speaker and trainer. His presentations focus on the nature of success as he explains how the rigour of an athlete’s training regime can be applied to any area of life to achieve positive results.