享有“阿甘”美譽的美國選手邁克爾·約翰遜，在1996年的美國奧運會田徑預選賽上，以19.66秒的成績打破了沉寂17年之久的男子200米世界紀錄。亞特蘭大奧運會的200米和400米兩枚金牌使邁克爾·約翰遜的事業達到了頂峰，輝煌的戰績至今無人打破。

Michael Johnson is quite simply one of the greatest athletes on the planet, and one of the best ever.

His place in history was sealed at the Atlanta Olympics, during which he won an unprecedented 200 metres-400 metres sprint double.

No athlete has ever won both events at Olympic level, let alone achieving the feat at the same Games.

Unfortunately, his injury in the final of the 200m at the US Olympic trials means Johnson will not be able to attempt to repeat his double effort in Sydney, although he will run the 400m.

Winning the double in Atlanta was impressive enough, but it was the nature of the victories, particularly in the 200m, which made Johnson name forever.

In shattering the record, Johnson finished metres ahead of silver medallist Frankie Fredericks. No-one else before or since has come near his time of 19.32 seconds.
The world best time for the 200m in 1999 was a full half a second outside Johnson mark, at 19.84 seconds, recorded by Nigerian Francis Obikwelu.

But if anything, Johnson domination of the 400m has been even greater. Although it took him much longer to break the world record in this event, his defeats have been rarer than thunderstorms in the Great Sandy Desert.


（南開大學通訊員 孫偉 王樂迪供稿）