Michael Johnson reveals his greatest American track stars: No Noah Lyles, Sha'Carri Richardson on the list

Former four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson revealed his list of American athletes with enduring stardom. He has a profound career with the 200m and 400m events and has been a three-time Olympic and six-time World Champion in individual events across his career.

The Grand Slam Track founder is a former 400m World record holder with a run time of 43.18 seconds, which is second best. Just a month before the first event of his GST league, he shared a post on X, naming some of the US greats who, in his opinion, are the greatest to grace the sport.

Johnson's list included multiple Olympic medalists such as Carl Lewis, Florence Griffith Joyner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Johnson himself etc. He also questioned who would make it to this list in the future. He wrote:

"Only a handful of American track & field athletes have transcended the sport to greater lasting stardom. Jesse Owens, Edwin Moses, Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner , Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, FloJo, and me. What do we all have in common? And who will be next?"

Further speaking about the common qualities the athletes in the above list shared, Johnson said:

"These two words are critical here: “transcend” and “lasting”"

Although Michael Johnson's list comprised some of the greatest American track and field athletes, he excluded several top stars from the current generation, such as Noah Lyles, a two-time Olympian and the 100m Olympic and World Champion.

Additionally, Johnson also excluded Sha'Carri Richardson, a leading figure in the sport with multiple Olympic medals.

Michael Johnson shares his perspective about his shift from team sports to individual sport

Johnson signing autographs for his fans during the Red Carpet event of the 2024 Laureus Awards in Madrid (Image via: Getty Images)

Michael Johnson opened up about the reason for his shift from team sports such as football to individual disciplines like track and field. In a conversation, the 57-year-old recalled that during his younger days, his team had lost a football team despite his good performance, which tempted him towards individual sports.

Additionally, Johnson also said that his major aim during his initial days in track was to beat his opponents comfortably in the races. He said, via CNBC:

"I hated team sports. I had a great game once when I was playing football and we lost, and we’re on the bus on the way home and everybody’s sad, and I’m thinking: I had a good game. I should be happy. So that told me that I needed to be in individual sport."

"This is going to sound sort of diabolical, but it was just really about beating people as badly as I possibly could."

During the conversation, Michael Johnson also added that after realizing he would be emerging victorious in his races, he started chasing for the accolades and records.