Michael is such a humble guy. You never saw him preening after a big win. He knew he was great, but he never flaunted his greatness in front of others. When Usain Bolt broke his world record at the 200, Michael was the first guy to jump up and celebrate. That’s the mark of a true champion - his humility.
How this guy is not on the list of top 100 sportsmen of all time is unbelievable,this athlete /sportsmen did all this greatness for a long sustained period of time but I suppose athletics does not get the recognition it deserves ,theres no money in the sport but being the best sportsman should be based on your God given talent and athletic ability not on the popularity of the sport
For sure his stats in the 400M will not be surpassed for decades. Maybe never. 9 years undefeated for 58 races. And 22 times under 44 seconds. To put this in context. No other 400M runner has even been under 44 seconds 10 times.
@@trackandfieldnews9122 cause someone ran faster than him with people pushing him better training and shoes doesn't mean that person is better.. MJ has 2x as many sub 44 than wade. How many golds does mj have?
I still remember watching the Atlanta games live with my brothers in Austin. Summer break. Great summer. Great Olympics. One of the greatest track runners of all time. I still get goose bumps watching those runs on RU-vid. Thank you, Michael Johnson!
It sucks that athletes of all generations don’t all have the same technology available. The close up they did of his spikes made them look so flat compared to the insane spike technology today. Interesting to see if prime Michael Johnson could have touched 42 in 2021
That's not feasible or realistic. Your body is the original technology. Jesse Owens nearly 90 years ago knew exactly what he needed to do to run his fastest on those old cinder tracks. They knew about ground contact time and that you wanted to get off the ground as quickly as possible. 10.3 is crazy fast on those tracks. The fastest sprinters of today can't match those times on those tracks in those old running shoes they wore back then (Andre Degrasse tried and was slower by about a full second and he was a 9.9 guy at the time).
Michael Johnson’s upright running style also meant he was able to recruit his accessory breathing muscles to maximum efficiency & this helped him to stay relaxed under pressure. Most other successful runners stay upright if you look at their tapes on RU-vid. He’s a legend.
Honestly, Michael Johnson's era is the only time the 400m felt exciting and I think it's _because_ of his 200m dominance. He was able to carry that excitement over to a typically less explosive race. Nowadays, of course I check the 400m races out but there's just not as much excitement around them.
I remember being in college walking thru campus one day, I was at the bookstore and saw him on the cover of a Sports Illustrated, thats the first time I heard of him and started to follow him, damn that was a while ago.
Great Podcast guys. I used to love watching MJ run. Still remember taping his 1996 Atlanta 200m on VHS at my grandma's house. I also remember arguing with my friends in the school cafeteria about whether or not he was gonna beat Donovan Bailey in that 150m. But did he just say his PB in the 100m was 10.07? If that's true, how was he gonna beat Donovan Bailey over 150m? He must have been really skeptical about taking on that race.
@@devint5943 he is and that’s why bolt always acknowledge MJ with respect and admiration, Bolt is also a class act he saved the world of track and field, got the whole world watching and loving the sport again, and also inspired generations.
