From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Duane Johnson
(born on September 13, 1967),
Dallas
,
Texas
is an
American
retired
sprinter
. He is widely considered the greatest
long sprinter
of all time. During his time on the track, he established world records for the 400 m (43.18
Seville
,
Spain
), indoor 400 m, indoor 300 m, 200 m, and 4 × 400 m relay. Due to these achievements, and due to the vast difference between the 200 m and 400 m, Johnson left little doubt that he is the greatest sprinter of all time. He won four
Olympic
gold medals and eight
World Championships
gold medals.
[5]
A fifth Olympic gold medal was taken back when it was learned that Johnson's teammates had cheated by using drugs.
Johnson had a unique upright posture when he ran so that he looked like a duck walk, which gave him the nickname
The Duck
. His running gait did not make sense for running fast, but somehow worked. He won almost every race that he ever ran.
He was the first athlete to win both the 200m and 400m sprints in the same Olympic Games (
Atlanta
,
Georgia
).
He retired in 2001, and is a sports commentator on TV. He was a contestant in the 2010 season of
The Celebrity Apprentice
.
Media related to
Michael Johnson
at Wikimedia Commons