Michael Johnson Quotes
born 1967 United States
Michael Duane Johnson (born September 13, 1967) is an American sprinter who became Olympic Champion four times.
- United States
- Sportspeople
Also known as: Michael Johnson
Random Michael Johnson quote
11 quotes
Some people are motivated by more pressure, some people perform better under pressure and some people don't.
It has been a fantastic career.
This is my final season, I am retiring, I will be going on a farewell tour—and I am not going to the World Championships.
First of all you have to acknowledge the pressure, but you can't ignore it. That's the mistake a lot of athletes make.
One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualising myself competing in the race before the race started.
Everybody is aware that their mental state impacts on how they do anything, When margins are tiny, people need to be able to control their emotions.
The most important thing is focusing on yourself. You can't control what the other athlete is going to do, you can't control anything except for your competition and how you execute the race or how you execute the task.
Before the race, if I'm starting to spiral down some negative thought, I've trained my mind to recognise that immediately and be able to make the adjustment to stop thinking about that.
During all my career, whenever I went to the start line feeling healthy, I never thought I would lose,I was only beaten once thinking like that, by Frankie Fredericks over 200m in Oslo in 1996.
I think it's important first and foremost for an individual to understand themselves and be honest with themselves in that way and then start to make the adjustment and develop a strategy for how you will achieve success.
The mind is absolutely instrumental in achieving results, even for athletes. Sports psychology is a very small part but it's extremely important when you're winning and losing races by hundreds and even thousands of a second.