Michael Johnson Quotes

My favourite event was the 200m, so as I won the 100m, I thought it was possible I'd win the 200m.

Athletics at the highest level is a sport within a sport.

During the decathlon, I always think only of the next event and my personal record.

The Olympics is a special event and winning is very important. For me as a world record holder and world champion, the only thing I am missing is the Olympic gold medal and that is what I want to achieve in my career.

Already in 2007 I thought I would be able to break the World record in the near future. That time Sammy Tangui was the pacemaker in Lausanne. I liked the way he was running. He is tall, he has a strong body and his stride is similar to mine. I told him in one of the coming years I would need him when I try to break the World record.

The most important thing is winning, not breaking the world record.

There's always competition in the national team.

I don't have any close friends that are my competitors. I think that's just the nature of being a sprinter.

Ingrid Kristiansen then has smashed the world record, running the 5000 metres in 14:58.89. Truly amazing. Incidentally, this is a personal best for Ingrid Kristiansen.

If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters... nobody except me.

Many athletes are seeking new and novel ways of pushing their limits, and the challenge of running back-to-back races is certainly one way to test the boundaries.

Good spectator sports share certain fundamentals. Their competitors battle head-to-head. Their winners are determined objectively: fastest runner, most points. They are refereed, not judged.

I'm a competitor. I really enjoyed the race more than just going out and running to run.

My brother was a big marathoner. He was a great collegiate runner at Beloit College. He won his conference's races, and he did tons of marathons. I would go out and run with him every once in a while just to hang out with him.

My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in England.

I played football in high school, I played baseball when I was younger, things like that, but I think it was the passion I had for track where you want to do an individual sport and be the best, I think - there's nothing that can replace that.

I could produce spurts of speed and after taking up athletics I found myself running quite quickly over 400m.

When you're walking into the stadium, you just say to yourself, 'the 100m is the same anywhere, the shot put is the same weight anywhere.'

I never really hated any particular sport but out of all the sports, I used to prefer the team games to running and sprinting and those types of things.

Fantastic, I am very happy to be the fastest 800 metres runner in the world.

That's the biggest gap in sports, the difference between the winner and the loser of the Super Bowl.

Time means a great deal to every runner. It means everything to me, because most days miles don't count; only minutes do.

My coach told me if I broke the national record for the 200, I could run a 100.

I always believed in my ability, but I think in any sport you need that little bit of luck.

I used to run track in high school and was unexceptional in every way.