Michael Johnson Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“I had already been into my professional career for six years and had not won an individual gold medal at the Olympics. There was a tremendous amount of pressure going into 1996 to get it done.”

“Opting for gold shoes could have been considered downright cocky, but I was confident and never doubted my ability to deliver gold medals to match my shimmering footwear.”

“Rivalries don't necessarily mean races being close at major championships. I had a rivalry with Butch Reynolds for many years. I won all the races, but Butch was the world record holder before I came into the sport, he was extremely talented and he was the only other man running 43 seconds.”

“They think because I'm small, they can do what they want to do to me. But I'm not weak. If I lower my shoulder and they lower they're shoulder, they're going to go down.”

“As an athlete, I'd average four hours a day. It doesn't sound like a lot when some people say they're training for 10 hours, but theirs includes lunch, massage and breaks. My four hours was packed with work.”

“You can't control what the other athlete is going to do; you can't control anything except for your competition and how you execute the race or how you execute the task.”

“I always wanted to be a sprinter.”

“One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualising myself competing in the race before the race started.”

“As an athlete, I was never really comfortable with being a celebrity.”

“I work hard to improve myself as a person - as a father, as a husband, as a manager. I'm always on that mission.”