US legend's epic Olympic double at Atlanta 1996 Games

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Charging around the Atlanta 1996 athletics track with his golden chain swishing around his neck and golden Nike spikes on his feet, US superstar Michael Johnson stormed to Olympic glory in the one-lap dash and the 200m sprint.

Exuding class, swagger, poise and athletic prowess, the champion from the Texan city of Dallas conquered the 400m in Olympic record time and the 200m in world record time.

He clocked 43.49 seconds in the 400m, which would remain the Olympic record until Wayde van Niekerk’s amazing run at Rio 2016, and 19.32 seconds in the 200m, which would stand as the world record until Jamaica’s Usain Bolt broke it at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

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After bursting over the finish line of the 400m in front of a raucous crowd of 83,000 people at Centennial Olympic Stadium, as it was known at the time, the then-29-year-old raised his arms above his head and scanned the crowd with a calm smile.

After powering over the finish line of the 200m three days later, he was teeming with elation — leaping and running around, thrusting his arms above his head and roaring mightily. He then tugged at the chest area of his US racing suit, showing his pride in his country, before grabbing the US flag and setting off on a victory lap.

Johnson had taken down Italian Pietro Mennea’s 200m world record of 19.72, set in 1979, when he posted 19.66 a month out from the Atlanta Games, before lowering his own world record at the Olympics.

Watch the video at the top of the page to see Michael Johnson storm to glory in the 400m at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics!

Johnson’s Atlanta 1996 heroics were part of an incredible period of about a decade by the African-American champion, which yielded eight world championship titles and four Olympic gold medals.

He won his first Olympic gold medal as a member of the US’ 4x400m relay team in Barcelona in 1992, and four years after clinching gold in the 200m and 400m at Atlanta 1996, he became the first man to successfully defend an Olympic 400m gold medal, starring at the Sydney 2000 Games.

He strung together 32 consecutive wins in the 200m between 1990 and 1992, as well as 58 consecutive wins in the 400m between 1990 and 1997.

The curtain came down on a legendary career in 2001.