Michael Johnson

I dealt with the pressure of the Olympics by preparing as much as possible beforehand, embracing pressure, and compartmentalizing my thoughts so that only what I could control was on my mind in the moment.
 
Transcript: "What was my strategy for dealing with the pressure of the Olympics? It's a tremendous amount of pressure, first of all. You have one moment to get this right. For example, as a 200-meter runner, you're standing there behind the blocks, imagining this is your moment. And in 19 seconds after that gun goes off, you're either going to be the Olympic champion or you're not. That's pressure, and the entire world is watching, and you're wearing gold shoes. [LAUGHS] But I dealt with the pressure of all of those moments by learning how to manage pressure. You manage pressure as opposed to trying to make it go away. You can't make it go away. It's going to be there. I learned to actually embrace pressure, and I really enjoyed those moments when I was under pressure, when I was the favorite, because I had learned how to navigate that. So you start by being as prepared as you possibly can because a lot of the fear and the nerves come from wondering if you're actually ready for the moment, to deliver in the moment. So in all of those days and weeks and months leading up to the games, I know that I want to be ready in that moment and be confident, so I'm using every day as an opportunity to be ready and confident in that moment. And then once I'm in the moment, just compartmentalizing my thoughts. Nothing else matters before that gun goes off other than execution of that race and how I'm going to navigate that race and respond to things that take place during the race so that I can actually run the best race of my capability. But that compartmentalization is extremely important in not letting anything other than what you can control in that moment be on your mind."

The three key fundamentals for good sprinting are technique, speed, and speed endurance. Good technique can help you be more efficient in racing, while increasing speed and having speed endurance are also important, especially for 200 and 400 meter races. Flexibility, strength, and power are also important for all running events.
 
Transcript: "What do you see as the key fundamentals of good sprinting? So there are a few things here. One, absolutely technique is critical. Poor technique can, no matter how fast you are, makes you inefficient. And you're trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as you possibly can. And if you're wasting motion-- say, for example, if your arm motion is taking you from one side to the other, and there's too much movement, that's inefficient. And what that means is you're not getting as much distance and as much power out of each step as you could be. So technique is critical. Speed is obviously important. So increasing speed. Power equals speed, so you want to be strong enough, and especially in the acceleration phase and drag phase of a race, to be able to get out and display the type of power that's going to allow you to run faster in the early stages of the race. And then, finally, speed endurance, especially for 200 meters and 400 meters. And the speed endurance is the ability to hold the speed for longer times. That was one of the advantages that I had as a sprinter, especially over 200 meters, where most 200 meter sprinters coming up from the 100 meters would not be able to hold maximum speed for the entire race. Me being a 400 meter and 200 meter sprinter, having that advantage from the 400 meters, I was able to hold speed for the entire 200 meters, without losing speed. Those are the three fundamentals that I would say are most important. There are others, which come across all track and field events, and certainly the running, and that's flexibility, strength, power. All of those things are very important. But as a sprinter, those are the three most critical fundamentals."

Hard work does not beat talent at the elite level, and if someone has talent, they likely already have motivation. To motivate them further, remind them of their goals and what it takes to achieve those goals.
 
Transcript: "Do you believe in the maxim hard work beats talent, unless talent works hard, and if so, what's your secret to motivating the talented? I don't believe that. Hard work does not beat talent at this point, for any sport. And if you're wanting to accomplish anything at a high level, whether it be a high school sports, college, professional sports, is so robust now with so many athletes that you've got to have talent, and you've got to work hard, even if you have talent. So nobody at the elite level, for sure, is there without talent. You can't hard work your way all the way to the elite level, if you don't have talent. I mean, that's the truth of the matter. Of course, at the high school level, you can have success with hard work, if you-- and maybe you beat some people that don't have talent, if they're not working hard. But I think you have to take that with a bit of a grain of salt, the whole hard work beats talent. Because that makes the assumption that the talent isn't actually working hard, and they probably are. For those people who are talented, how do you motivate them? I think they're already motivated I think the days of people feeling like, well, I just have the talent. So I don't have to work hard. I think those days are over. If they do have talent, and they don't want to work hard, then they don't really want it. So that's their choice. But motivating anyone to work hard, what I do is have them focus on their goals. If you're out here and you have goals, and you want to achieve those goals, there's only one way to achieve the goal. And that is to work hard, and work smart, and be committed to what it takes to accomplish the goal. And so explaining that, making sure they understand that. But also reminding-- continuing to remind that athlete of their goal, and what it takes to achieve those goals. And usually, that's-- that there is the motivation and it's that's usually pretty motivating. And people are most motivated by their own goals."

My gold chain weighed a few grams, which is not enough to make a noticeable difference in my performance. It was simply a personal choice I made, and it didn't affect my running speed.
 
Transcript: "Is there a story behind your gold chain weighing more than your gold spikes? Not necessarily a story, but that's often a question that I get. So I wore a gold chain throughout my entire career. It was part of me. It wasn't good luck or anything. It was just-- I just always wore it. I got it and wore it every race. Obviously, my shoes are known for how light they were. So they probably didn't weigh quite as much as the shoe, or maybe they were about the same. The issue is this. Weight is only an issue when it's on the part of your body that is actually swinging. So if you have a weight on your hands or arms, that would be a problem. If you have too much weight on your feet, that would be a problem. And that's why athletes want lightweight footwear, and that's why I pushed Nike on that shoe [INAUDIBLE] shoe project, to make a really lightweight shoe. Weight anywhere else on your body probably isn't going to make that much of a difference. So that chain weighed, you know, grams. So imagine-- you know, when people say, oh, well, didn't that weigh you down? Let's say that I increased my body weight by the same amount as that chain. Is that really going to matter? No, it's not because body weight, or weight on your body, does not actually slow you down unless you're overweight, and then that can be a problem. But when we're talking about-- I mean, I would probably gain or lose, and I'm sure athletes much more so than me would gain or lose 1 to 2 pounds. You can be carrying 1 pound of water weight from one race to the other. So I get it, and it's a funny question. But it gets a little annoying when people think, well, you made yourself deliberately slow by wearing a gold chain that weighed in mere grams, which is not that-- this sport doesn't work like that, where 1 gram or even 1 pound is going to make the difference between how fast or slow you run."

Yes, I do consider myself to be a happy person. It's something that I think about often, and it takes work and self-reflection to make sure that I'm truly happy. I'm always working to be happy by making sure I take the time to do the things that bring me joy and being around the right people.
 
Transcript: "Would you consider yourself to be a happy person? Great question. I do. And it's something that I think about often, am I truly happy? Because I think a lot of people would answer that question just, yeah, of course I'm happy. But not having ever really thought about, well, am I truly happy? What makes me happy? And why do I think I'm happy? I think about that often and always have. And that's something you have to work at. It's a lot of self-reflection, but I think I'm generally a happy person. I'm an optimistic person, I think you can also-- whether or not you're a happy person sometimes is a choice and sometimes it's-- not always, but sometimes it's a choice and sometimes, in some ways, it's what you make of life. If you're not happy, can you change your circumstances and are you willing to work to change this circumstance? So I'm always working to be happy trying to make sure that my quality of life and balance is really good, making sure that I take the time to do the things that I like to do and that bring me joy and understanding what that is, and being around the type of people that I'm happy around and trying to eliminate people from my life who I don't necessarily want to be around maybe anymore, maybe at one point I did. So those things, but yeah, I'm generally happy. Thanks for asking."

Josh prefers to run both the 200 and 400 meter races, as he ran his fastest times when he was running both. He enjoyed the 200 more when the competition differed in that event versus the 400, but he also enjoyed chasing and searching for the world record in the 400 after breaking the 200-meter world record.
 
Transcript: "Hi, Josh, which do I prefer? 200 meters or 400 meters? Great question. I actually preferred when I could run both early in my career. I started off as a 200 meter Runner and but I was world class in the 400 meters as well. My first year into in my career. I was the first person to be ranked number one in the world and the 200 M and 400 meters. But every Championship, I chose one or the other and it would pain me to then say, In the stands, watching the race that I didn't choose and to have say, for example, just having won the 200-meter World Championship in 1991. And then I'm sitting there watching someone else when the 400 meters thinking I should be in that race. I could win that or in 1993 the exact opposite that shows around 400 and I'm watching the 200 thinking I could win that. So it wasn't until 1995 that I decided. I'm going to double and then From that point on, I tried to double every time I could, and I felt best and I ran my fastest times when I was running both of you. That's so it was always hard to choose. I did sort of enjoy the 200 meters more when the competition was differing, that event versus the 400. But there came a point when I was then searching and chasing the world record in the 400 after I'd already broken the 200-meter world record. And then I was that was my favorite. So it's sort of all depended on the Circumstances, but I ran best and I was happy happy as when I when I could run both."