Michael Johnson.

Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson, born in 1967, American track-and-field athlete, who in 1995 won the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes at the world championship track-and-field meet in Göteborg, Sweden. Johnson was the first person to win both the 200-meter and 400-meter races at the same world championships. He again won both events at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, setting a world record in the 200-meter dash and an Olympic record in the 400-meter dash. Born in Dallas, Texas, Johnson graduated from Baylor University in 1990. He suffered a series of injuries early in his running career, including a break in a leg bone that kept him from competing in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In 1990, healthy for the full season, Johnson won 20 of the 21 races he entered and became the first men's sprinter to be ranked first in the world in both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes. In 1991 he was undefeated in races at both distances and repeated his world number-one ranking in both events. Johnson was expected to win the 200-meters and the 400-meters at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, but he suffered food poisoning shortly before the Games began. Severely weakened, he did not win a medal in either race. He did, however, win a gold medal as a member of the American 4 x 400-meter relay team, helping the team establish a new world record (2 minutes 55.74 seconds). In 1993 Johnson claimed the world number-one ranking in the 400-meter race with an undefeated season in the event. He finished the 1994 season ranked number one in both the 200-meter and 400-meter events, and he won the Jesse Owens Memorial Award as the outstanding track-and-field athlete in the United States. In 1995, after winning world championship gold medals in the 200-meter race, the 400-meter race, and the 4 x 400-meter relay, Johnson won the Jesse Owens Memorial Award again. A year later, Johnson produced a spectacular effort in the 1996 Olympics. He won the gold medal in the 200-meter race with a world-record time of 19.32 seconds and earned a second gold medal by winning the 400-meter race, posting an Olympic record time of 43.49 seconds. His performance won him the Jesse Owens Memorial Award for the third consecutive year, and he also won the Jesse Owens International Trophy, awarded by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) to the world's top amateur athlete. In 1997 Johnson won his third consecutive world championship title in the 400-meter event and was honored with a second Jesse Owens International Trophy. At the 1999 world championships Johnson won the 400-meter race yet again, setting a new world record of 43.18 seconds. He was also a member of the 4 x 400-meter relay team, which won the gold medal. He won gold medals in the same two races at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Johnson retired from competitive track and field in 2001. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.