Mixed Media #18...Michael Johnson

Being the best that you can be

I HAVE never been what you’d call athletic. Over the years I’ve dabbled with exercise: running, yoga, squash, cycling, this and that. I don’t like too much inactivity but I’m definitely a dabbler. I have rarely taken a disciplined approach to sport except during my early twenties, when an eating disorder revealed hitherto unimagined reserves of steel. I would rise early on cold dark mornings before a day at the office to run miles in tee shirt and shorts, and again in the evenings, but that was unusual. I’m more in the “give it a go, lose interest, move on” category, so when it comes to sport I admire people who display a high degree of motivation.

One of the most inspirational sportsmen I can think of is the American sprinter Michael Johnson. When the World Athletics Championships start in Budapest next week he will as usual be commentating for the BBC, and I would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to whoever secured that contract. When Michael makes an appearance I habitually stop whatever I am doing and sit with my chin on my fist, staring at the screen in rapt attention. My admiration for his achievements, to say nothing of his immaculate grooming and dignified bearing, typically leave me in a glassy-eyed reverie, and my husband is well aware that if Michael is on TV he could run into the room and scream “FIRE!” and I would not flinch. It’s hero-worship, pure and simple.

Michael Duane Johnson was born in Dallas in 1967. He was the first person to hold world records in the 200m and 400m races simultaneously¹. By the time he retired in 2000 he had won five Olympic and eight World Championship gold medals. One of them he returned voluntarily as it was for a 400m relay win in which a teammate subsequently admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs, and Johnson did not consider that it had been won fairly; a measure of his integrity both as an athlete and as a man.

Nurtured in the bosom of a loving family he looked up to his father, who advised him to go to college and get a good job. Having discovered a love of sprinting, his single-minded commitment to athletics brought him success at the highest level. He never missed a single day of training and he loved to compete. It was no sacrifice; it was his job. He was teased for his unusually upright running style, some commentators speculating that he could have achieved even greater success with a more orthodox gait, but Michael brushed off such criticism. Before every race he listened to Tupac Shakur singing “Me against the World” then ran like the wind. He was at the height of his powers when the Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. With hard work and supreme dedication, and wearing his famous trademark golden running shoes, he broke both the 200m and 400m records at his home Olympics.

Johnson retired at his peak having achieved everything he wanted to do professionally. Despite maintaining his fitness he suffered a stroke in 2018 from which, mercifully, he has now fully recovered.

When asked about his relationship with his son, whom he clearly considers to be his most important achievement, he gives this response:

I expect people to be as good as they can be. It’s what I expect out of myself and I wouldn’t expect anything out of people that they’re not capable of.²

What a good philosophy to pass on to a child, and one that has served this amazing athlete and role model very well indeed.

Here’s a clip of Michael Johnson winning the 200m at Atlanta in 1996.

1. Interview with Kirsty Young, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 16/10/11.

2. ibid.