Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #10 - Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#5 among American Olympians

#4 among Track & Field Athletes

#3 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#3 among American Track & Field Athletes

#3 among Male American Olympians

#2 among Male American Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

1992

4x400m Relay - Gold

1996

200m - Gold

400m - Gold

2000

400m - Gold

4x400m Relay - Gold*

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 5*

*medal returned after disqualification of teammates

Michael Duane Johnson was born on September 13, 1967 in Dallas, Texas, where he ran the 100m and 200m sprints in high school, before attending Baylor University, where he started running the 400m after competing in a 4x400m relay and performing well. He graduated in 1990 with a degree in accounting, then won his first World Championship the next year in the 200m, which made him a favorite heading to Barcelona in 1992.

Prior to competing in the 200m in Barcelona, Johnson contracted food poisoning at a local restaurant, and it affected him so badly that he was only able to reach the semifinal round. He recovered enough to compete in the 4x400m relay a few days later. He ran the second leg in the heats, and then the third leg in the final. In that race, the USA had a lead of almost a second after the first leg, and more than 2 seconds before Johnson ran. He stretched the lead to 2.66 seconds, and they ended up winning by 3.77 seconds, breaking the world record in the process, which had stood for 24 years, so he did not walk away from his first Olympics emptyhanded.

He won the 400m World Championship in 1993, and won both the 200m and 400m in 1995, so the 1996 Olympics were expected to be a showcase for him. He set a new world record in the 200m at the US Olympic Trials, and went to Atlanta hoping to be the first man ever to win both events in the same Olympics.

He started with the 400m, where he didn't push it in the first round heat, just doing enough to advance. After that, he posted the fastest time in each of the next two rounds, making him well-prepared for the final. In the final, he left the field in the dust, winning by 0.92 seconds, the largest margin of victory in 100 years, and set a new Olympic record at the same time.

He finished up in Atlanta with the 200m race. He started with a very good time around the curve, but was basically even with Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago and Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, but as soon as he hit the straightaway, he shifted gears and pulled away from the pair, and beat his new world record by 0.34 seconds, the largest improvement on the event's record in history, and beat Fredericks by 0.36 seconds for his second gold of the Olympics.

Johnson suffered from numerous injuries over the next few years, including an injury during the 200m race at the US Olympic Trials, where he had already qualified in the 400m. He wouldn't be able to defend one of his gold medals, but he still had a chance at the other, and was also put on the relay team.

He started in Sydney with the 400m, where he had recently broken the world record, and he was expected to win again, even though he was older than any winner of the event in history. It turns out that his age didn't matter, as he won by 0.56 seconds, making him not only the oldest ever to win the event, but also the only man to win it twice.

He also competed in the 4x400m relay final as the anchor, but he really wasn't even needed. The USA had a lead of nearly a second after the first leg, which ballooned to more than 2 seconds before Johnston took the baton, and he ran a steady leg to bring home the gold medal. In 2003, it was revealed that Jerome Young, who had run in the prelim heat, had tested positive for PEDs, so he was forced to return his medal, but the others were not, as he had not run in the final. Then, in 2008, Antonio Pettigrew, who had run the second leg, confessed to doping during the race, and the entire team was disqualified. It was later revealed that the Harrison brothers, who ran the other two legs of the final, were also cheating, so Johnson was the only clean runner in the race.

He retired after the 2000 Olympics, but his world records stood for much longer. He was the 200m world record holder until 2008, when Usain Bolt beat his time, and his 400m time wasn't beaten until 2016. The only things to stop him from winning gold medals at the Olympics were food poisoning and cheating teammates, and there is no doubt that he is one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

NCAA Football Rankings - 8 Nov

LSU was #1 in my rankings before the weekend, but then they were blown out at home by Alabama, which dropped the Tigers down to #5, and put the Tide back up at #1. Notre Dame and Miami went exactly as expected, so both team remained where they were last week, while Georgia jumped up to #3 after destroying Ole Miss on the road. Tennessee also joined the top 10 after a beatdown of Kentucky, which gives the SEC 5 of the top 7 teams. Here are my full current rankings:

						Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L
1	3	Alabama	-24.82	7	2	10	2
2	2	Notre Dame	-22.24	8	1	11	1
3	5	Georgia	-22.2	8	1	11	1
4	4	Miami	-21.37	8	1	11	1
5	1	LSU	-19.76	6	3	8	4
6	8	Texas	-18.81	7	2	9	3
7	12	Tennessee	-17.35	7	2	9	3
8	10	UCLA	-17.1	9	0	11	1
9	9	Utah	-16.73	9	0	11	1
10	6	Ohio State	-16.2	6	3	8	4
11	11	Wake Forest	-14.53	8	1	10	2
12	23	Oklahoma State	-14.41	6	3	8	4
13	7	Ole Miss	-14.41	6	3	8	4
14	26	Oregon	-14.14	6	3	8	4
15	14	Indiana	-14.02	8	1	10	2
16	13	Houston	-13.26	7	2	9	3
17	22	Boise State	-12.74	8	1	10	1
18	19	South Carolina	-12.5	6	3	8	4
19	21	BYU	-12.23	7	2	9	3
20	24	Louisville	-12	6	3	8	4
21	20	Baylor	-11.75	6	3	7	5
22	15	Missouri	-11.73	6	3	7	5
23	31	Iowa	-11.33	7	2	9	3
24	16	Kentucky	-11.25	7	2	9	3
25	18	Arizona	-11.14	7	2	9	3
26	17	Texas Tech	-10.31	8	1	9	3
27	28	Liberty	-10.28	8	1	11	1
28	34	New Mexico	-10.25	8	1	11	1
29	37	Duke	-10.09	7	2	8	4
30	35	North Carolina	-9.997	5	4	7	5
31	30	USC	-9.955	7	2	8	4
32	29	Nebraska	-9.753	5	4	7	5
33	25	Northwestern	-9.507	6	4	8	5
34	32	Wisconsin	-9.376	5	4	7	5
35	45	Oklahoma	-9.32	5	4	6	6
36	33	Texas A&M	-8.821	4	5	5	7
37	36	James Madison	-8.749	8	2	10	2
38	27	Florida	-8.544	5	4	7	5
39	48	SMU	-7.925	7	2	8	4
40	40	North Dakota State	-7.514	7	2	10	2
41	46	TCU	-7.406	4	5	5	7
42	41	Penn State	-7.113	6	3	8	4
43	49	North Texas	-6.883	7	2	9	3
44	47	Clemson	-6.842	6	3	8	4
45	58	Texas State	-6.766	5	4	7	4
46	43	Pittsburgh	-6.721	6	3	8	4
47	39	Mississippi St	-6.245	4	5	6	6
48	52	Louisiana Tech	-6.17	7	2	9	3
49	56	Illinois	-6.124	6	3	7	5
50	55	Florida State	-5.946	4	5	6	6
51	53	UCF	-5.732	5	4	7	5
52	42	Auburn	-5.717	5	4	6	6
53	44	Memphis	-5.35	7	2	9	3
54	70	Tulsa	-4.782	5	4	7	5
55	61	Iowa State	-3.992	4	5	6	6
56	38	Oregon State	-3.654	5	4	6	5
57	54	Virginia Tech	-3.555	6	3	8	4
58	57	Washington	-3.543	5	4	6	6
59	51	Fresno State	-3.484	5	4	6	5
60	65	Cincinnati	-3.158	5	4	6	6
61	71	West Virginia	-3.112	5	4	6	6
62	69	Georgia Southern	-2.795	5	4	7	5
63	76	Michigan St	-2.591	3	6	5	7
64	60	Michigan	-2.536	5	4	5	7
65	50	UT San Antonio	-2.331	7	2	9	3
66	59	Purdue	-2.017	3	6	4	8
67	64	Kansas	-1.942	3	6	4	8
68	62	South Florida	-1.9	6	3	8	4
69	68	Syracuse	-1.876	4	5	5	7
70	74	Jacksonville State	-1.812	7	2	9	3
71	73	Virginia	-1.753	4	5	6	6
72	63	Army	-1.671	5	4	7	5
73	84	Arkansas	-0.995	3	6	3	9
74	72	Minnesota	-0.952	5	4	6	6
75	75	West Michigan	-0.949	6	3	9	3
76	80	Air Force	-0.935	7	2	9	3
77	66	Louisiana	-0.374	6	3	8	4
78	89	Florida Atlantic	-0.274	6	3	7	5
79	85	Georgia State	-0.231	5	4	7	5
80	79	Arizona State	0.1161	5	4	6	6
81	78	Toledo	0.4844	7	2	9	3
82	67	Kansas State	0.7139	4	5	5	7
83	81	Navy	0.867	3	6	5	7
84	77	Connecticut	0.9757	4	5	6	6
85	82	Ohio	1.2425	7	2	9	3
86	92	Maryland	1.5221	3	6	4	8
87	95	Vanderbilt	1.6573	4	5	4	8
88	91	East Carolina	2.3293	5	4	7	5
89	90	Delaware	2.8801	4	5	6	6
90	87	Colorado	2.8932	3	6	4	8
91	83	NC State	3.1338	4	5	5	7
92	86	UNLV	3.2251	5	4	6	6
93	96	Boston College	3.2809	4	5	4	8
94	102	Utah State	3.2945	4	5	5	6
95	98	South Alabama	3.7118	4	5	6	6
96	99	Florida Intl	4.2681	4	5	6	6
97	103	Kennesaw State	4.6768	3	6	5	7
98	88	Coastal Carolina	4.9724	3	6	4	8
99	100	Miami (OH)	5.333	5	4	6	6
100	121	Central Michigan	5.4716	4	5	6	6
101	94	Arkansas State	5.5625	4	5	5	7
102	117	Wyoming	5.6384	6	3	7	5
103	97	Appalachian St	5.7721	5	4	7	5
104	107	Stanford	5.8062	4	5	5	7
105	101	Nevada	5.8624	3	6	5	7
106	105	San Diego State	5.8667	4	5	5	6
107	108	California	6.3879	3	6	4	8
108	109	UAB	6.4817	5	4	6	6
109	111	Rutgers	6.6519	2	7	3	9
110	104	UMass	6.8172	5	4	7	5
111	93	Tulane	6.8757	4	5	5	7
112	110	San Jose State	7.1527	5	5	6	7
113	113	Temple	7.1744	2	7	3	9
114	120	Buffalo	7.2736	6	3	8	4
115	112	Rice	7.333	1	8	2	10
116	116	Mid Tennessee	7.5395	5	4	6	6
117	115	Georgia Tech	7.6878	2	7	2	10
118	106	Troy	7.7281	4	5	5	7
119	114	Washington St	8.2682	1	8	2	9
120	119	Colorado State	8.7218	3	6	3	8
121	123	West Kentucky	8.9142	3	6	4	8
122	127	Missouri State	8.9544	3	6	4	8
123	125	New Mexico St	9.2068	3	6	4	8
124	122	Marshall	9.4944	5	4	6	6
125	132	Old Dominion	9.5662	3	7	4	8
126	128	Hawaii	9.6431	3	6	4	8
127	126	Ball State	9.6557	3	6	4	8
128	118	Eastern Michigan	10.48	4	6	5	7
129	129	Bowling Green	11.33	2	7	3	9
130	124	Southern Miss	11.922	3	6	4	8
131	130	Kent State	12.114	3	6	4	8
132	131	Sam Houston	13.116	1	8	2	10
133	133	Charlotte	15.148	1	8	2	10
134	136	Louisiana Monroe	15.787	2	7	3	9
135	135	UTEP	16.252	1	8	2	10
136	134	Akron	16.43	1	8	2	10
137	137	Sacramento State	17.443	2	8	2	10
138	138	Northern Illinois	18.254	0	9	1	11