Michael Johnson biography
Michael Johnson, in full Michael Duane Johnson, (born September 13, 1967, Dallas, Texas, U.S.), American sprinter, maybe essentially the most eminent determine in athletics (monitor and subject) within the Nineteen Nineties. For a lot of the last decade he was nearly unbeaten within the lengthy sprints—the 200-metre and 400-metre races—and he held world data within the indoor 400 metres and the out of doors 200 metres. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, he grew to become the primary man to win gold medals at each distances; he additionally set Olympic marks in each occasions.
In highschool Johnson was one of many high 200-metre runners in Texas. After coming into Baylor University in Waco, Texas, in 1986, he first started competing at 400 metres. In 1989, throughout his junior yr, he set the indoor 200-metre U.S. file to win the nationwide collegiate title—a title that he defended his senior yr, each indoors and outside.
Johnson’s statuesque working model—upright again, low knee-lift, and composed face—was very not like different trackmen. In 1991 he lowered the world indoor mark at 200 metres, profitable that occasion outside on the world championships. He gained his first Olympic medal on the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, as a member of the 4 × 400-metre relay crew that set the world file, which he helped to decrease once more the next yr. In 1995 he twice broke the world mark within the indoor 400 metres and gained each lengthy sprints on the world championships. For his double victory on the 1996 Olympic Games, at which he shattered the 200-metre world file by 0.34 second whereas posting a time of 19.32 seconds, he was named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News, which had awarded him American Athlete of the Year 5 occasions (1990, 1993–96).
At the 2000 Sydney (Australia) Games, Johnson grew to become the primary male Olympian to defend his title within the 400 metres; he didn't run within the 200-metre race, having didn't qualify on the U.S. trials due to an damage. He additionally earned a gold medal because the anchor of the 4 × 400-metre relay crew. At the Games’ conclusion, Johnson introduced that he was retiring from Olympic and world championship competitors. In 2008 Johnson returned his 2000 Olympic relay gold medal to the International Olympic Committee after one among his teammates admitted to taking performance-enhancing medicine on the time of the race. While Johnson was beneath no obligation to return his medal, with this admission his teammate grew to become the third member of the 4 × 400-metre relay crew to have both admitted to or examined constructive for performance-enhancing medicine since 2000, and the strongly anti-doping Johnson felt that the medal was now “tainted.”
