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The greatest Olympic athlete from every U.S. state

By Adam Strangis

16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) /
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Texas: Michael Johnson

Sport: Track and Field

Olympics: Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, and Sydney 2000

Michael Johnson is almost universally regarded as one of the best sprinters the world has ever seen. He had one of the most dominant decades ever seen in the sport and defied conventional wisdom in his running style. Johnson went against the grain and used short, choppy strides and stayed far more upright than most of his competitors. Aside from his Olympic exploits, Johnson is tied with Carl Lewis for the second-most gold medals combined between the Olympics and the World Championships. The only man to better those two is Usain Bolt.

Even during his early days at Baylor University, Johnson showed immense talent as a sprinter. He broke the school record for the 200-meter race in his very first attempt. It wasn’t until he graduated from Baylor that Johnson devoted himself full-time to sprinting. Johnson would likely have even more medals and records to his name had he not missed the 1988 Games with a stress fracture in his leg. It’s a very rare combination for a sprinter to excel at both the 200 and 400-meter events. In the 1992 Games, Johnson was robbed of a chance at any individual medals because he contracted food poisoning and was unable to compete. He did recover to run his leg of the relay and took home gold with his teammates. In 1993, Johnson started a streak of a remarkable 58 400-meter races during which he was not beaten. He earned the nickname “Superman” but saved his greatest achievement for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

As he wore custom-made gold cleats, he won both the 200 and 400-meter events. That feat has never been equaled by any man in history, although two women have also achieved it. In 2000, Johnson became the oldest man to ever win an event shorter than 500-meters at the Olympics when he won the 400-meters. Johnson has turned his success into a career as a commentator and a coach post-Olympics.

Honorable Mention: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, track and field in Los Angeles 1932

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