Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson
One of the best track and field athletes in history, he won four Olympic gold medals and eight more World Championship gold medals.
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth13 September 1967
CityDallas, TX
CountryUnited States of America
believe athletic slavery
Difficult as it was to hear, slavery has benefited descendants like me - I believe there is a superior athletic gene in us.
sports running mean
Rivalries don't necessarily mean races being close at major championships. I had a rivalry with Butch Reynolds for many years. I won all the races, but Butch was the world record holder before I came into the sport, he was extremely talented and he was the only other man running 43 seconds.
years careers gold
I had already been into my professional career for six years and had not won an individual gold medal at the Olympics. There was a tremendous amount of pressure going into 1996 to get it done.
athlete average lunch
As an athlete, I'd average four hours a day. It doesn't sound like a lot when some people say they're training for 10 hours, but theirs includes lunch, massage and breaks. My four hours was packed with work.
motivation inspiration way
You owe it to yourself to find your own unorthodox way of succeeding, or sometimes, just surviving.
motivation inspiration hard-work
(Natural Talent + Opportunity) Hard Work = Success
athlete comfortable
As an athlete, I was never really comfortable with being a celebrity.
determination athlete thinking
All my life I believed I became an athlete through my own determination, but it's impossible to think that being descended from slaves hasn't left an imprint through the generations.
motivation inspiration goal
You can make goals for family, relationships, anything.
islands bird desert
A bird, music and food -desert island items
success motivation loss
The only way to deal with loss - as a horribly unwelcome guest that you know will show up eventually. And so you deny it and reject it and ignore it and laugh in its face. You toss it out into the street and push it away and fight it off, and only it has landed square in your lap, only then do you deal with it.
be-who-you-are situation who-you-are
Be who you are in every situation.
motivational thinking track
They think because I'm small, they can do what they want to do to me. But I'm not weak. If I lower my shoulder and they lower they're shoulder, they're going to go down.
mind traveller know-how
A good traveller is one who knows how to travel with the mind.