Usain Bolt is the undisputed sprint legend, but American Michael Johnson has explained why he would have beaten the Jamaican had the two ever gotten to race each other.
Usain Bolt remains one of the greatest sprinters of all time, and his achievements need no explanation.
While his eight Olympic gold medals includes breaking world records, four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson opines that he would have capitalised on the Jamaican’s weaknesses to beat him if he faced off during his running era.
Usain Bolt smashed Michael Johnson’s 12-year 200 meter world record in 2008, but the American great has explained why Bolt would never have stood a chance of beating him if both ever got to actually compete on the same track.
Johnson, the only male athlete to win both the 200m and 400m events at the same Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta added that he would maximize on his strengths to get the better of the 11-time world champion.
Pinpointing exactly why he backs himself, Johnson said: “I’m extraordinarily efficient. I would have beaten him on speed endurance and the ability to hold my speed and my ability to be more efficient,” Johnson told the High Performance podcast.
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While Johnson acknowledged Bolt is a special athlete, he outlined an area where the Jamaican would have beaten him. Johnson also took a slight dig at Bolt’s finishing. “Usain is an amazing athlete and he would have had an advantage on me a little bit out of the blocks. But you know, when he’s slowing down at the end, he’s not the most efficient at the end of the race,” he added.
While the pair were never in direct competition, Bolt’s breaking of Johnson’s 200m world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics is about as close as we will ever get to finding out. Johnson had set the standard after smashing Pietro Mennea’s record that had stored for more than 16 years, and MJ’s mark stood for 12 years until Bolt arrived.
Johnson’s 19.32secs has since been bettered by Yohan Blake and Noah Lyles, but the American remains one of the standard bearers for sprinting. However Bolt has the records to stand apart from the all-time field – and by quite a distance.
