THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020653
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SERIES: Olympics '96
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
From Atlanta
LENGTH: 72 lines
Michael Johnson said he wanted these Olympics to make him a household name in racing like Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis.
The way Johnson ran Thursday, comparisons with Secretariat might also be appropriate.
``I can't even describe how it feels to break the record by that much,'' Johnson said after posting a time of 19.32 seconds in the 200 meters, bettering his own world mark of 19.66 set June 23.
His victory in the 200, following his success in the 400 Monday, completes Johnson's golden double.
Though he insists the time doesn't interest him as much as his desire to ``make history,'' the world record is the exclamation point on Johnson's boast that he has replaced Lewis as the face of American track and field.
Poor Frankie Fredericks. The Namibian flash, who beat Johnson in the 200 last month, finished 2/100s of a second off the old world record and had to settle for a distant second.
Bronze medalist Ato Boldon of Trinidad could only say: ``I said before that the world's fastest human was the man who won the 100 meters. Now I think the fastest man alive is sitting to my left.''
The man sitting to Boldon's left allowed as how he thought a stumble out of the blocks ``cost me a few hundreds of a second.''
This brought a trace of a smile to Fredericks' lips.
``I thought 19.66 was incredible,'' he said.
For Johnson, ``The world record was a bonus on top. There a lot of people who can say they held a world record. But nobody else can say they are the first person to win both the 400 and 200.''
Actually, only a chauvinist or Nike executive would say Johnson is the first person to take gold in the 400 and 200 in a single Olympics.
He wasn't even the first person to do it Thursday night. Marie Jose-Perec of France beat him to the golden double by 15 minutes. And unlike Johnson, Jose-Perec did it on one day's rest.
No matter. On this night, she would be Ginger Rogers to Johnson's Fred Astaire.
Carried by his golden shoes and winged feet, and aided by NBC's windy promotion, Johnson had hoped the 400-200 would make him the biggest name at the Centennial Games.
Though running aficionados know all too well how difficult a feat it is, the 400-200 double must seem like an exotic, if not insignificant, combo to the track-impaired TV audience.
Americans are more likely to notice powerful runners if they have a football tucked under their arm. And, in truth, going into Thursday's race, the suspicion lingered that what Johnson was about to attempt was not a feat for the ages as much as a carefully crafted self-promotion.
Winning the Olympic 100 meters will always mean something special, no matter who finishes first. The 400-200 is a special event that will fade from the scene with Johnson.
Not that this does anything to diminish the spectacle of his victory in the 200.
``I was running relaxed,'' he said. ``At 80 or 90 meters I thought I was in control of the race.''
Now he is in control of his Olympic legacy.
``It's not like you're in another world,'' he said. ``You're on the same level as all the other competitors.''
That's not how it looked.
When asked how it felt to run so fast, Johnson recalled the sensation of driving a go-cart his father bought him when he was a boy.
``Go get a go-cart and find a hill,'' he suggested. ``You'll know how it feels.''
Golden, no doubt. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photo
Michael Johnson by CNB