Johnson Super Again Doesn’t Let Cramp Keep Him From Third Straight 400 Title

Michael Johnson flew down the track like Superman, and he even had the wardrobe.

First, he won his third straight 400-meter title at the world championships Tuesday night. Then, a fan tossed him a T-shirt of the superhero, which he carried around the track in a proud victory lap.

Before a crowd of more than 70,000 at Olympic Stadium, Johnson captured the gold medal in 44.12 seconds, the third-fastest time in the world this year, despite a cramp on the inside of his left leg.

It was the same part of his leg he injured during his 150-meter match race against Donovan Bailey on June 1.

“I felt the cramp coming around the curve,” said Johnson, who trailed Britain’s Iwan Thomas and Uganda’s Davis Kamoga at that point.

But he powered his way clear of the field with about 60 meters left and went on to win by more than three meters.

He raised his hands to the crowd and was embraced by American Tyree Washington, who finished third, behind Kamoga. He also was given two ice packs and ointment for his injury.

“I’m pleased to be back and to be healthy,” said Johnson, momentarily forgetting the cramp. “I felt confident. Nothing was difficult for me this week.”

Johnson’s victory on the fourth day of competition overshadowed two historic developments:

Marius Corbett, who was unranked in the world’s top 10 in the men’s javelin before the championships, became South Africa’s first gold medalist ever with an African-record throw of 290 feet.

And 19-year-old Sally Barsosio became the first Kenyan woman to win a gold medal at either the world championships or the Olympics, taking the 10,000 meters in a world junior record time of 31:32.92.

In the other finals, Cuba’s Ivan Pedroso, the three-time world indoor champion in the men’s long jump, won his second consecutive outdoor title at 27-7-1/2, and Carla Sacramento of Portugal earned her first major title, winning the women’s 1,500 with her season’s best of 4:04.24.

Johnson, the 1995 world and 1996 Olympic 200- and 400-meter champion, had been under great pressure recently. After losing to Bailey, his 58-race winning streak in the 400 ended in a meet at Paris on June 25. He finished fifth.

After that, he went home to Waco, Texas, to recover from the injury, which had forced him to miss the U.S. championships in June. His absence cost him a place on the national team, but track and field’s ruling body granted him, and other defending champions, an unprecedented wild card for the world championships.

“I’m happy to pull it off,” Johnson said. “It’s been a tough season.”

Earlier in the meet, Washington criticized Johnson for “not having heart.” On Tuesday, he felt differently.

“He has it in his heart now,” he said. “I tried to go out and see if I could beat him, but the last 30 or 40 meters, he got me. He wanted to prove something today and he did.

“I told him that on the track we’re all rivals, but off the track we’re all friends.”

Corbett’s unexpected gold in the javelin came one day after Llewellyn Herbert won South Africa’s first medal at the worlds by finishing second in the men’s 400 hurdles.

“I never thought about the gold,” said Corbett, a fourth-year physical education student. “Maybe fourth or fifth… . Then I threw … a personal best by 5 meters.”

Corbett’s coach, Terseris Liebenberg, said it was “fantastic for South Africa.”

“It now shows the people that we can do it. When Llewellyn got the silver, it set the team alight,” he said.

Liebenberg said congratulatory messages had been pouring in after Herbert’s triumph, including one from former President F.W. de Klerk.

Barsosio, who at 15 in 1993 became the youngest world championship medalist, beat defending champion and Olympic titlist Fernanda Ribeiro by 40 meters.