Who is better in 200m? Michael Johnson or Usain Bolt

The greatest men in history require no introduction! Even if you are not a sports fan, you have probably heard their names being mentioned everywhere.

The likes of Jesse Owens, Bob Hayes, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Maurice Greene, and even the latest superstar whose trademark "lightning pose" Usain Bolt is known to everybody.

The two athletes that go into my mind because of their enthralling performances, in the same event, are Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt.

These two are dissimilar in "many ways."

Johnson's physic is more of that of a long sprint, but Bolt's physic would give an advantage over the shorter sprint distances.

In terms of "time", Johnson's prime time has long been over, a decade ago, while Bolt is still gearing up and leveraging his "empire".

Back in the 1996 Olympics, Johnson shattered the world record in what was considered "a magic time" of 19.32s.

He broke his own world record (19.66s) by more than three-tenths of a second that he set in the U.S. Olympic trial a few weeks earlier.

The process of the record setting was not easy. Just like others, Johnson had to go through three rounds (heats, quarters, and semis) before his final 200m race. Prior to that, he took the Olympic 400m Gold in a time of 43.49s, in a new Olympic record.

But prior to that, he had to run three preliminaries rounds. In other words, Johnson had to run a 1.8km sprint prior to his 200m finals. Details as follows;

Michael Johnson in 1996 Olympics

400m Heats (26 July) - 45.80s
400m Quarters (27 July) - 44.62s
400m Semis (28 July) - 44.59s
400m Finals (30 July) - 43.49s - OR

200m Heats (31 July) - 20.55s
200m Quarters (31 July) - 20.37s
200m Semis (1 Aug) - 20.27s
200m Finals (1 Aug) - 19.32s - OR / WR

Meanwhile, Usain Bolt has gone through similar rounds in 2009 as Johnson (1996) but with the shorter total distance which covered much more less than Johnson with (only) 1.0km, before destroying his WR (19.30s) from the Beijing Olympics, with a time of 19.19s.

Comparison between Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt

1 - Distance - If you were to compare the process of getting to the "destination" (Johnson vs Bolt at 200m - times, golds, records), Johnson appeared in a more "disadvantage" due to the extra "sprint" distances he had to cover before commencing his world record campaign (see above).

When you have to run more races (heats, quarters, semis; multiple events), it taxes the body a lot (lactate accumulation, etc.). So you need better recovery in order to deal with this. Note that Johnson injured his hamstring right after the 200m (he withdrew from the 4x400m).

2 - Running surface or track quality. The track surface at Olympic Stadium at Berlin (where Bolt set 19.19) is called Polytan M  which is the latest and the best version of a track that ever been built. It is harder, thus, much more springy (better rebound) than the track surface (Mondo) at the 1996 Olympic stadium.

The Polytan M track at Berlin contains a three-layer synthetic surface that provides a better elasticity and energy return during every strike that occurs on the track, which can give an added advantage to a sprinter (i.e. Usain Bolt) every time he/she hit (strike) the track surface. This enables a faster sprinting to be achieved.

Furthermore, the IAAF has recently awarded a Class 1 Certificate to the Polytan M, confirming that the quality of the running track is truly outstanding.

3 - Sports science. There has been a lot of changes in coaching practice, as a result of "advancement" in sports science knowledge. This allows better training approaches and methodologies than that since 1996 or earlier.

Training methods change when there are new scientific findings related to training. More importantly, the new knowledge today is more easily disseminated and learned, because of technologies, the internet, etc.

The seminar/workshops are being organized more regularly, so understanding with regards to physiology and biomechanics is more easily captured - this will influence our coaching practice.

There are others. More stories will be discussed in the next posts.

Read more...