American sprinting legend Michael Johnson has fired back at ‘dumbassery’ accusations of ‘black racism’ made against him after he questioned the legitimacy of the world records broken at this year’s World Athletics Championships. Outlining the women’s 100m hurdle event, 12 of the 24 runners across the semi-finals recorded their best ever times.
Most notably Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan broke a new world record, as she ran to victory in 12.12 seconds to beat Kendra Harrison's 2016 world record by 0.08 seconds. Noticing this remarkable trend, Johnson took to Twitter to question the timing in the stadium, adding that the athletes looked ‘shocked’.
He wrote: “I don’t believe 100h times are correct. World record broken by .08! 12 PBs set. 5 National records set. And Cindy Sember quote after her PB/NR “I thoroughly [thought] I was running slow!” All athletes looked shocked.”
Johnson’s tweet was slammed by many on Twitter, leading to the four-time Olympic gold medal winner hitting back. He later added: “The level of dumbassery coming across my feed right now is truly staggering!”
The American star’s tweets came in the midst of Amusan completing an even faster run in the final; however, the world champion’s second record was soon discounted after running with a hefty tailwind. One Twitter user - @kvngs_man - labelled Johnson a ‘black racist’, writing: “Michael Johnson Are you naturally this dumb or do you have to put in effort?
“Why don't you channel your energy to recovering from your stroke you Black racist! Toby Amusan is a world record holder and there's nothing you can do about that.”
Feeling the need to address the claims once more, Johnson later added that he was not just outlining the legitimacy of the Nigerian’s record, but a number of runs in Oregon.
He added: “As a commentator my job is to comment. In questioning the times of 28 athletes (not 1 athlete) by wondering if the timing system malfunctioned, I was attacked, accused of racism, and of questioning the talent of an athlete I respect and predicted to win. Unacceptable. I move on.”
