Even With World Record, Johnson No Shoo-In In 200 American Sprinting Star Has Namibia’s Fredericks On His Tail
Michael Johnson better forget about Carl Lewis and worry about Frankie Fredericks.
Johnson, whose gold medal in the 400 meters was overshadowed by the Carl Lewis winning the long jump Tuesday, moves on today to the 200.
Waiting will be Fredericks, who broke Johnson’s 21-race winning streak in the 200 last month. He finished in 19.82 seconds, three-hundredths of a second ahead of Johnson.
“Frank Fredericks beat me when I made a mistake a few weeks ago,” said Johnson, who set the world record of 19.66 at the U.S. Olympic trials in July. “I’m not going to make a mistake this time.”
Track took the day off Tuesday, and Johnson begged off an appearance at a news conference, where Lewis went on at length about his desire to be added to the 400-meter relay team.
Lewis never mentioned Johnson’s name, declining to add fuel to a simmering rivalry that boiled over in Johnson’s post-race comments Tuesday night.
As Johnson was calling on Lewis to give up his position as the premier athlete of track and field, Fredericks was assuming the role of giant-killer - not because he was trying to beat the great Johnson but because it was his poor homeland of Namibia against the mighty United States.
He noted that NBC had cut away to a commercial as Namibia’s athletes entered the stadium in the opening ceremony.
“All people saw was the bigger countries, not the smaller countries,” said Fredericks, who won a silver medal in the 100 on Saturday. “Let’s talk about the smaller countries.”
The first and second rounds of the 200 are today, followed by semis and finals Thursday.
xxxx WHAT’S AHEAD At stake: Medals in archery, track and field, badminton, cycling, diving, table tennis, freestyle wrestling.