Chris Musumba
29 October 2006
Nairobi — Sports icon Michael Johnson ruled the 400 metres and 200 metres races for over a decade, before retiring after the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The American athlete visited Kenya last week and spoke to Nation Sports Writer CHRIS MUSUMBA.
Sprinter Michael Johnson has won everything an athlete aspires to. He is a beacon of hope to many young sportsmen.
A five-time Olympic champion, Johnson ruled 200 metres and 400 metres races for over a decade, an achievement many young athletes can only dream of.
Last week, the former American sprinter visited Kenya with France 1998 World Cup winning team defender Marcel Desailly. The two were on a charitable mission to inspire hope among the youth at Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA).
Desailly and Johnson are members of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a charitable institution supporting projects worldwide. MYSA have been receiving funding from the foundation since 2000. The two were received by hundreds of excited children at MYSA grounds in Komarock.
Johnson is widely regarded as the greatest 400m runner of all time.
Five times an Olympic champion, Johnson hauled home nine World Championship gold medals by the time he retired from active competition after the Sydney 2000 Olympic. He set a remarkable run of 58 consecutive wins over 400 metres between 1990 and 1997.
He also cemented his name in athletics folklore as an outstanding 200 metres sprinter, stringing together 32 straight wins between 1990 and 1992.
The Dallas, Texas born sprinter became the first man ever to hold both the 200 and 400 metres world records at the same time, and is the only male athlete to successfully defend the Olympics 400 metres crown.
In 1996 in Atlanta, he became the first athlete to clinch the double over both the 200 and 400m at the same games. He set a world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 metres, way ahead of silver medallist Frankie Fredericks of Namibia.
"I have participated in numerous events but the Atlanta Olympics stands out as my favourite, since it was staged in the United States," he said.
In the 400 metres, Johnson shattered the 11-year-old world record of Butch Reynolds when he clocked 43.18 seconds at the 1999 World Championships in Seville - his fourth successive title over the distance. Victory drew him level, on eight, with Carl Lewis for the most career gold medals at the world championships.
But despite all this, the question is, what makes him so special?
Johnson was a powerhouse in the 1990s, virtually unbeatable. He did not just break world records, he shattered them, often beating opponents by several seconds. He is also an inspiration to any athlete, because despite injuring himself in 1997, he still won the world title in the 400m that year. He had the same problems in 1998, which he overcame to win the title again with a world record.
Born on September 13, 1967 in Dallas, Texas, Johnson has had a steady life on and away from the track.
At the age of 33, he rounded off his distinguished Olympic career with gold medals number four and five at the 2000 Sydney Games. He triumphed in the men's 400 metres and also in the 4x400 metre relay to add to his two gold medals from the 1996 Atlanta Games and his 1992 Olympic gold in the 4x400 metre relay.
Johnson retired from competition as world-record holder over both 200 and 400 metres and had collected six individual and three relay gold medals during his remarkable world championship career. He was also the co-holder of the world record in the 4x400 metre relay, after the United States team set a time of 2:54.20 at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Johnson feels athletics risks being dragged through the murky doping scandals as more athletes are lured to using performance enhancing drugs to push them into winning top races worldwide.
"Obviously, drugs are not things a sportsman yearns to be associated with. Its not good for sports and it will be a problem, which we cannot eradicate fully. We have people who cheat in life and we have law enforcers to check on them and that is the situation in sports. You will always have people who try to cheat and take short cuts in life. In today's society most people are good so are those in sports. Most athletes are genuine but we will always have a few who want to ride high through dubious means," he said.
He challenged individual federations and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to get tough as that was the only way to stump out the vice but he cautions, like fugitives in life, the suspects will always try to beat the law enforcers at their own game.
"We need to return dignity in the sprints. By and large, athletics has led by example testing athletes more than any other sport in the world," he observed.
Doping war goes on
According to Johnson, Wada have done everything possible and are on course to winning the battle but the war is far from over.
On Kenya's dismal showing in sprints, Johnson felt Kenyans have the potential to be great sprinters but only if the authorities concentrate on developing them. He notes that Kenya has been able to curve their own niche in athletics and dominated the long distance events making themselves the envy of many other nations.
"I don't think that there is a problem with Kenya not producing great sprinters. Obviously there are many more long distance athletes from here than in America, we have not done well in the long distance area.
"Every country has its part to play and we in America happen to be good in sprints and here in Kenya the long distance runners are doing great so it doesn't justify it as a problem," he says.
On athletes changing nationality, Johnson points out that it s the task of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) to see that the integrity of competition is maintained. He feels the passion to compete is being watered down at the end of the day with the many athletes participating in different colours yet it is known that they all originate from one country.
Changing nationality
"It is unfortunate and I think it is a job for the IAAF to ensure the integrity of competition. Events like world championships and Olympics if at all are going to remain of any significance and importance, when there is a medals table at the end of it then you need to keep athletes restricted to running for one country," Johnson says.
Kenya has suffered the loss of several top athletes lured by promises of a better life and remuneration abroad. Over 30 athletes have decamped among them, world 3,000m steeplechase champion Saif Shaheed Shaheen formerly Stephen Cherono who went to Qatar, Mbarak Shami, Ali Mansoor, Gregory Konchella and Bernard Lagat.
Now out of the spotlight, Johnson passes his time running his businesses alongside working as a television commentator and newspaper analyst back in Dallas, Texas.
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