Talk:Michael Johnson (athlete)

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[edit] Revert

Got rid of the 'Michael Sanchez' stuff...

[edit] Too Biased

Just browsing this and it seems far too biased. Too much praise. Granted the achievements are noteworthy, but the way its written is just lavishing it and then some. Needs to be made more neutral.

Well edit it then! --Lancevortex 10:11, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Definitely get rid of the sentence "The debate over who was fastest was thus never resolved" in the paragraph about his 150m race against Bailey. Both agreed that they would stop using the title "world's fastest man" if they lost.

Johnson lost.

After being well behind throughout the race. He stopped using the title. Issue resolved. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grant Gussie (talk • contribs) 19:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reasons for reverting Gh's changes

I didn't think that Gh's edits added to the clarity of the article, in fact rather the opposite. I have therefore reverted to the previous version. Any comments (especially from Gh) appreciated. --Lancevortex 14:48, 6 Jun 2004 (UTC)

[edit] 400m record

The article for Kerron Clement and this one are apparently conflicting; the other page says that the record belongs to Kerron Clement at 44.57 seconds, while this page says that the record belongs to Michael Johnson at 43.18 seconds. Which is correct, or what am I missing?

Clement holds the indoor record, Johnson the outdoor (and absolute) record. --Lancevortex 12:26, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] running style

a picture (a movie would be best) of his unique running style would be great. I searched yahoo! videos for a decent video to link to but did not find any --Crucible Guardian 05:21, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I found a video on the Internet but it is above the 2MB video file size rule so the only way to include it is to add an external link. The video is from a French TV station but it shows Johnson's unique running style in slow motion as he breaks the 200m-world record. I will add the external link. --User:someone97531 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Max speed

Johnson's maximum speed in his 200m world record was recently changed from "37km/h" to "over 40km/h". Anyone know which is correct (with source)? --Lancevortex 09:42, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] weasel terms

I think the use of Many at the beginning and in the Bailey race section should be removed.

they have now been removed. --Lancevortex 11:02, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

This article could really use a picture, don't you agree? BMW Z3 23:56, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I have uploaded a picture showing Michael Johnson holding the American flag after completing the double at Atlanta in 1996. I think that it could replace the first table on the article that is repeated towards the bottom of the page. What does everyone think? --User:Someone97531 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bailey Section Inappropriate

As currently written, this section suggests that the race was a non-starter, since '...Johnson pulled out a few moments into the race'. A review of the footage clearly indicates Johnson did not 'pull up lame' until the race was 2/3rds over (at about 10 s into a 15 s race), and after Bailey was looking to be a sure winner. The race showed a lot more than the article suggests. Indeed it appeared that Bailey would 'easily win the race' before Johnson pulled up lame - the article suggests Bailey easily won the race because Johnson pulled up lame. The article needs to give Bailey more credit.

I also think the Bailey-Johnson section is inappropriate for the above reasons, and others. Why is it there in the first place? If we are to fill the page with various race anecdotes, we could put the race where Johnson pulled his hamstring in a 200 m race against Maurice Greene, or various times where he had particularly great races. I personally think that a link to the Bailey-Johnson article is enough for now. At the moment, the section is sitting there, slightly out of context. A reader might ask, why is this specific race important? Surely athletes can get injured rather often? Mipchunk 19:28, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Video of Bailey Johnson Race on YouTube

Search on 'Bailey Johnson'

[edit] Clarification of Xavier Carter's 19.63

The old version said "In the 10 years since this record was set, [i.e., Johnson's 19.32] no other athlete has even approached Johnson's first world record mark of 19.66 s, until July 11, 2006, when Xavier Carter of the United States posted a 19.63 in Lausanne, leading many to believe that the current mark will endure."

Well, obviously this was written before Carter did his 19.63 and simply ammended with a reference to him, as Wallace Spearmon did 19.65 Sept 2006 and Tyson Gay twice came within several hundredths of a second of hitting 19.66 as well. Clearly, Johnson's 19.32 was not threatened, but the way the sentence was structured it seems as if Carter's time somehow reinforces the notion "that the current mark will endure." Unless someone can find a link to someone saying that these recent marks somehow make Johnson's 19.32 more likely to last many more years, I have gone ahead and rewritten the line.

To be fair, I'd say that the mark COULD be broken as Carter and Spearmon, 22 and 21 respectively both exceeded what Johnson did at age 28 - his 19.66 - and more may come from these two and Gay - 23 and 24 in 2006 when he ran 19.68 and 19.70 - and these three presumably would be eager not only to approach Johnson but to beat each other. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Canada Jack (talk


I've seen that my insert has been rephrased, with the new phrase: "No other athlete even approached Johnson's first world record mark of 19.66 until July 11, 2006, nearly ten years after his 19.32 performance, when Xavier Carter of the United States ran a 19.63 in Lausanne." However, this is not strictly true, as Frank Fredericks ran 19.68 behind Johnson's 19.32 record in 1996. We still need to say this better. Canada Jack 16:09, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clarification on "world's fastest man"

Just want to add a note on the phrase "world's fastest man/human" which Johnson was called after the 200 m victory and world record at the 1996 Olympics. It should be noted that the unofficial title of "WFM" typically was awarded either to the 100 m Olympic champion OR to the world record holder in that event.

When Johnson ran 19.32 to win gold in 1996, many commentators, particularly in America, noted that that worked out to 9.66 on average per 100m, clearly "faster" than Donovan Bailey's world record in 1996 of 9.84. What many who said this did not mention (or, more likely, did not know) was that the winning Olympic time (at least since electronic timing generally was used starting with the 1968 Olympics) was the 200 m time was almost ALWAYS "faster" than the 100 m time. In fact, all but one Olympic champion in the 200 m ran "faster" at the Olympics than the 100 m champion from 1968 to 1996. (the exception: Hasely Crawford's 10.06 was "faster" than Don Quarrie's 20.23 in 1976; Mike Marsh was also "slower" in the 1992 200 m final, but ran "faster" in an earlier round).

AS for the claim that Johnson's average speed was clearly "faster," this was a new criteria seemingly invented to give him the title, when in the past this criteria didn't seem to apply. If it had, then Italian Pietro Mennea, who ran 19.72 in 1979 was the "world's fastest human" until 1994, yet for most of that time, Carl Lewis was claimed to have held that title though he never in fact exceeded Mennea.

The article quotes an average speed of some 25 mph, but many 100 m sprinters have been recorded as reaching peak velocities in excess of that. Bailey was measured as having reached a peak velocity of 27.1 mph during the 1996 final (this was quoted in a 1998 article). This speed may have been exceeded by some more recent sprinters, but I have not seen any reports that Johnson ran quite that fast during a race. Canada Jack 20:49, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I remember hearing that he had hit the highest velocity ever recorded for a human -- I think the number was 27.7mph, but really, this is just from memory. I believe this was one of the things that justified his use of the title, "World's Fastest Man." Later (maybe a couple years), a 100m runner recorded a faster maximum velocity (I forget who it was). I came to this page to look for this information. :) 131.243.77.221 06:47, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy section

I've removed this section once again, because it says quite clearly at the top of this page that "controversial material of any kind that is unsourced must be removed immediately". Can the editor provide any credible sources for his/her claims that thousands have questioned Johnson's integrity? Is it not much more likely he retired when he did because he was 33 years old and as a multiple Olympic winner and world record holder, he had achieved all he could in his sport?Pawnkingthree 13:00, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Magnitude of record

My insertion about the magnitude of Johnson's record was removed, so I reinstated it. My reason for so doing is that there is nothing instrinsic about Johnson's 19.32 or the margin of .30 s(not ".3") between his mark and the second-best mark that indicates how far ahead of others he is, unless you have an appreciation of where other runners are. By noting that the distance between Johnson and #2 is 1 and #2 and .30 seconds later is about 28 dramatically, I think, illustrates how far ahead of the rest Johnson is, despite a recent rash of runners in the 19.6/19.7 range.

I agree that the other remarks suggesting that it was predicted that the person who would first run 19.3 wasn't yet born before Johnson's achievement should be omitted if there is no source for such a statement. Canada Jack 00:08, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you have written, and I won't change anything further. However, I'm of the opinion that there is no need for demonstrating the "magnitude" of Johnson's record. I agree that it is good to note how much faster his performance is than everybody else's, but I think that it is not within the purposes of this encyclopedia to try to get readers to "appreciate" Johnson's record in any sort of "dramatic" fashion.
With that said, I count twenty-six (26) runners whose 200m personal best lies between 19.63 and 19.92 (.30 seconds behind Gay's 19.62). Mipchunk 06:11, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I'd say if we are to compare this to Beamon's record, we could illustrate why, and I think the number of those who have approached the record is a good way. I have a bit of a problem with saying that lowering it by .34 is the "biggest" improvement ever, only because while true, it is misleading since times to 1/100 th of a second were only recognized in the 60s, and if you go by those marks, Tommie Smith in fact improved the electronic record by a greater margin (though the record to 1/10th was instrinsically faster).

As for 26 - yeah, I hesitated to put a specific number as, obviously, it would have to be updated a lot. And, Yeah, I think I may have counted Gay and Johnson himself, so go ahead and correct that or say "more than 25" or some such thing. Canada Jack 06:47, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 300 metre "record"

I've changed the wording about Johnson's 300 m "world record" because, bluntly, this is no "world record." Only events sanctioned by the IAAF can have "world records," other events may be run but have no official status and are often called "world bests," like in the 2 miles. And by comparing the improvement Johnson made on the old "mark" is meaningless as the event is seldom run, certainly not at big-time meets where the world's top athletes would be competing. Canada Jack 20:35, 4 July 2007 (UTC)