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PORTLAND,
Ore. - Michael Johnson setting the men's 200m world record
at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta has been named the
greatest moment in U.S. track and field in the last 25
years.
Johnson, who
broke the long-standing 200m world record earlier that
summer at the 1996 Olympic Trials in Atlanta with his
blistering 19.66, was looking to make history as the first
man ever to win the 200m and 400m gold medals at the same
Olympics.
Having won
the Olympic 400m gold medal earlier in the competition,
Johnson placed his golden shoes into the blocks for his
eighth race in six days, the men's 200m final.
When the gun
sounded Johnson had a slight stumble out of the blocks and
still completed the first 100m around the curve in an
amazing 10.12. The 83,000 fans on hand stood and screamed as
Johnson covered the second 100 meters in a ridiculous split
of 9.20, burying a tremendous field in the Beamonesque time
of 19.32. Johnson's winning margin of nearly four meters was
the widest in an Olympic 200m final since Jesse Owens'
victory at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Nobody,
including Johnson, could believe the time, which according
to the IAAF's decathlon scoring tables equates to 9.72 for
100 meters. Johnson's 200m race in Atlanta is believed by
many to be the single greatest track and field performance
in history.
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