I was able to accomplish and achieve the sort of consistency
and longevity that I did based on a singular focus of,
how do I get the absolute best out of myself
from a performance standpoint?
(LEGENDS LIVE ON)
He was the youngest of five children
and his mum was a teacher
and the other four kids all have got college degrees
and it was a very bright, well-educated,
highly motivated, high-achieving family.
High school I was a 100, 200m sprinter.
Throughout my four years of my college career
I was primarily 200, and so for the first six years
of my professional career,
the 200 was the race that I was more focused on.
And when I had to pick one I would run that one and win it
and then have to sit in the stands
and watch someone else win the other one
and feeling like I could win that,
and I didn't like that feeling.
Inside Michael Johnson there was a lot more going on
that he wouldn't really let us see.
(OLYMPIC GAMES BARCELONA 1992)
It was my first Olympics.
I was ranked number one in the world for the past two years,
hadn't lost a race.
I was the defending world champion from 1991
so I was in fantastic shape that year.
I got food poisoning just before the Games,
just sort of wrecked all of my preparation and condition.
Michael Johnson in lane two,
Frank Fredericks right next to him in lane three.
Coming down to the top of the stretch
and Adeniken of Nigeria has a short lead.
Now Michael Johnson is really having to work to get there,
as Frank Fredericks wins, and Johnson,
Johnson may not have made the final four.
I wasn't able to advance -
the biggest disappointment of my life.
Frank Fredericks of Bolivia was the winner
of that second semifinal heat of the 200m.
That inability to run that final in 1992
definitely bothered him
and was one of the things that spurred him onward.
OK, so what could I have done to prevent that?
Well, I could have had my royal food taster,
you know, taste all of my food and then wait 24 hours to see
if they still look healthy or not,
and then I'll decide to eat it,
you know, and that's just not practical.
I had been named as one of the members
of our 4x400m relay team.
And I remember we won it and we got our gold medal
and it was just not a good experience for me at all.
I wasn't there to win a gold medal as a member of a relay.
I didn't win the medal that I wanted.
Start to question, am I really as good as I thought I was?
"Didn't get it this year, we'll try again next year."
There is no next year at the Olympics.
I don't think I was poisoned or sabotaged,
but I've never thought about that.
Maybe - you never know.
I mean, I was beating up on people pretty bad
and maybe they didn't want me to win.
But they weren't able to keep me down for long,
if that was the case.
(OLYMPIC GAMES ATLANTA 1996)
Michael Johnson with his first steps toward track immortality.
We knew the situation.
The situation was Michael was as close to unbeatable
as unbeatable can be.
Michael Johnson is off and he's cruising for the finish.
Michael Johnson coming home all by himself.
Michael Johnson is halfway to history.
So there was a group of us
really fighting for the other two medals.
When I say I came second to Michael Johnson, it's OK.
So I'm very fortunate
to have been part of Michael's history.
He changed the 400m event, no doubt about it,
because he was the first pure sprinter
who took on the 400 properly.
He made us all realise, this is a sprint,
you've got to have speed to run the really fast times.
I remember standing behind the rostrum
and I remember just being aware
that Michael wasn't in the moment.
I remember turning to Michael and saying,
"Are you all right?" and he said, "Yeah, yeah."
I said, "This is it, this is why we do this.
"Don't forget to savour this moment."
And there's this wonderful shot of Michael,
I think it's the only time he ever cried on a rostrum.
He blames me for that
because he said I snapped him out of...
He was already thinking about the 200m.
(ATLANTA 1996 200M FINAL)
Flashbulbs flashing, Ato Boldon away well,
so is Frank Fredericks, and here comes Michael Johnson.
I thought it was going to take
breaking the world record in order to win.
Michael Johnson, running for the line
and into Olympic history.
I wrote at the time,
"He turned the inevitable into the incredible."
Everybody knew he was going to win
but nobody thought he was going to run 19.32.
I was really focused on just trying to make history
and be the best that there's ever been in those two events.
As these young kids come onto the stage,
could we give them a good ol' Aussie g'day and welcome?
Stadium Australia in Sydney,
Michael Johnson in another attempt to make history.
He would become the first man
to win back-to-back Olympic 400m gold medals.
400m final is under way.
I wanted to end my career on a good note.
Wanted to end my career as a champion, as Olympic champion.
Michael Johnson wins another
and once again cements his place as an all-time great.
Michael Johnson, the first to repeat
as Olympic 400m champion.
In track and field in general
I think Michael Johnson was a name that everyone knew.
I appreciate what he's done for us
and the example he set out for us
and the records that he did put out there for us,
it really motivated myself.
There's probably nothing that you're ever going to be able to
do in your life that's going to top that,
so I'm going to have to prepare myself for another career.
We're focused on helping athletes
be the best athletes that they can.
Michael always gave you the impression that he was going
to be the mechanical engineer with the pocket liner
and the pens in his pocket.
He never sleeps.
When he does sleep he's dreaming about,
"What am I going to do to be better tomorrow?"
and so what that does is it
almost forces him to look around at everything,
evaluate how it is today and look around
for opportunities to improve on what's going on today,
and that drives a lot of people crazy.
It's much harder for a track and field star in America
to be really well known and to really leave their mark,
and I think Michael has done that,
not just because of what he did on the track,
but what he's done off the track as well.
Hi, I'm Michael Johnson.
We're here in Dallas, Texas, at Michael Johnson Performance
and we're working with the young leaders,
doing a little bit of basketball here,
a little team-building.
Really cool exercise so we can get to learn
how to communicate better with one another.
My foundation is really focused
on helping find young people around the world
who are really interested in helping their communities
and helping other young people
who have overcome significant challenges just as they have.
This year we had our first class of 15 young leaders.
Whether it be lack of education in their community,
or poverty in their community or war,
what we're trying to do with this programme
is to find those young people
who have overcome those challenges through sport
and who have shown a real passion
for being a leader in their community
and changing their community
and helping other young people overcome just as they have.
Just like Drica here in Rio. It was soccer, or football,
that helped her overcome the poverty
and the situation that she was in
and she decided, "I'm going to use the same thing.
"I know that kids in my community love football
"so I'm going to help them through using football."
I learnt different things from different cultures
because there were young people from several countries.
I learnt things like how to look after my health
and the children's health and how to stay in good shape.
I also learnt the Haka!
These young people have gotten themselves to the starting line
and then decided instead of just going ahead myself,
I'm going to help others get here, too,
and so they inspire me,
and that's what makes me feel so good
about what we're able to do with these young leaders.
Michael Johnson.
I have great memories of my career,
but I'm happy with what I'm doing now.
As long as I'm close to athletes every day,
I love what I do now.
I still wake up the same way I did when I was competing,
wake up every day driven, ready to go,
you know, conquer something.
(LEGENDS LIVE ON)