Michael Johnson, from the track to the press box

Michael Johnson is one of the most successful track and field athletes to ever race. During his time, he set world records and won Olympic medals in the 200m and 400m sprint events. Over his career he won 12 world and Olympic gold medals for the United States.

Since the end of his athletic career, Johnson has opened a training business, Michael Johnson Performance, and is a regular analyst with BBC during track and field events.

“There are lots of former athletes who try to make their way into broadcasting, but it’s a very different skillset than what’s required to be successful as a broadcaster and as a television analyst,” says Johnson about his transition into television. “Ask anyone out there who’s a sports fan and sometimes they’re actually turning their television volume down when the ex-athletes start to speak. It doesn’t necessarily mean just because you are a former athlete that you’re a great broadcaster.”

He’s been working with the BBC for 14 year, covering the last four Olympics, and their viewers love him. He really shined during the latest summer Olympics in London and is known for being one of the most genuinely excited athletics commentators, linked with his lifetime involved in the sport.

Speaking about what makes a great TV personality, Johnson says, though great athletes don’t always make great analysts, he’s glad he has the charism required. “I’m fortunate that I actually have that and I’ve worked very hard at it to become an award-winning television analyst.”

The U.S. sprinter is more of a notorious character in Canada, known to many for his 150m race at Toronto SkyDome in 1997 against Donovan Bailey. The race pitted the 100m and 200m world champions and record holders against each other to determine the fastest man in the world, a distinction generally given to the winner of the Olympic 100m. Johnson pulled out mid-race with an injury.

Johnson says the rivalry between the two was genuine, one that saw Bailey call him a “chicken” on CBC after the 200m record holder pulled up in the 150m race.

“It wasn’t until I ran faster than any human being had ever run in terms of miles per hour that the whole thing came into question. I think that it was obvious that Donovan felt like that wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. Of course, I think any time you have a head-to-head competition, which is rare in the sport of athletics where you normally have eight people in a race, it create this sort of rivalry. I would say that, for the most part, it was all real,” comments Johnson about the sprinters’ relationship. He says the two see each other occasionally at events but rarely speak.

Looking forward to the 2015 world championships in Beijing, Johnson’s excited to see who will emerge as favourites in the year before the next Olympic Games. Still, he notes few athletes are as great at pleasing crowds as Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, the sprinter who broke Johnson’s 200m record in 2008.