ACOG - News - IBM

(2 August 1996; Day 14)

JOHNSON's Run Unbelievable; PEREC's Only Slightly Less So

In one of the more memorable performances in athletics history, Michael JOHNSON (USA) dominated a powerful sprint field to complete his 200/400 meter double last night, becoming the third person to accomplish the feat. Just moments before, Marie-Jose PEREC (FRA) became the second person to do it, although her 200 meters victory was pulled out in a last-ditch run to the tape.

JOHNSON was a clear favorite in the 400 meters, where he hadn't lost in six years. That wasn't true in the 200, where he faced one of the best sprint fields ever assembled, including Frank FREDERICKS (NAM), who had beaten him over the distance in July.

Responding to the pressure with a powerful performance, JOHNSON led FREDERICKS slightly out of the bend, and then turned it on in an incredible stretch run. The Texas native broke his own world record by 0.34 seconds, the greatest margin of improvement in the 200 meter world record ever. He ran his second 100 meters in 9.20 seconds, and, even with a flying start on that split, one wonders what he could do to the 100 meter world record of 9.84 seconds that Canada's Donovan BAILEY set on Monday night.

"I thought when he ran 19.66, incredible," said FREDERICKS, who became the third fastest ever with his 19.68 run in winning the silver. "To run 19.32, I don't know what to say."

And JOHNSON may be able to go even faster. In analyzing his race, JOHNSON said he stumbled out of the blocks, even though his reaction time to the gun was the second fastest in the field at .161 seconds. "Once I got over the stumble, around the fourth step I was running pretty fast," he said in understatement.

PEREC needed all of her sprint endurance to run down Merlene OTTEY (JAM) in the last 40 meters of her 200m win last night. Her time of 22.12 seconds was rather modest, but still not bad after she entered the race almost as an afterthought.

The only runner this decade who has run less than 49 seconds in the women's 400 meters, PEREC was thought a more likely candidate to try for a second gold, and a world record, in the 400 meter hurdles. She, and most of the rest of the world, consider the 200m record set by Florence GRIFFITH-JOYNER untouchable, and PEREC feels she needs a record to complete her career. "I decided to double after my early season run of 22.29 seconds," she said, in explaining the decision to go for the 200m gold medal, since the scheduling made a hurdles double extremely difficult.

Like JOHNSON, PEREC faced a tough field, led by OTTEY, who has more medals at the international level than any other female sprinter, and has reached the finals in five Olympic Games. She also had to overcome sprint specialists Mary ONYALI (NGR), the sixth fastest 100 meter runner in the world this year, and Carlette GUIDRY (USA), who came into the Olympic Games with a seasonal best in the 200m.

Only third out of the blocks in the 200m with a reaction time of 0.174 seconds, PEREC trailed badly coming out of the curve. But she seemed to reach down in the closing strides to pass a fading OTTEY. "I didn't panic," she said. "Everyone thought it was over for me, but I actually believed I could still win."

While JOHNSON's 200 meter run was the fastest ever, PEREC won the 400 meters in the fastest time run by a woman since 1986. Both completely overwhelmed their competition in the long sprints, joining Valerie BRISCOE (USA) as the only athletes in Olympic history to complete the 200/400 double.

This is an official publication of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Brett Ayers.


Return to Olympic News Menu

Select another day:
Pre July 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 August 1 2 3 4 Post


Olympic Factoid
More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.