Michael Johnson accused of ‘black racism’ after questioning Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan’s timing as he obliterated the 100m hurdles world record as a host of athletes set personal bests at the World Championships .
- Michael Johnson has been accused of racism after questioning a world record
- Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan breaks Kendra Harrison’s 100m hurdles time in 2016
- Amusan broke the previous record by 0.08 seconds at the World Athletics Championships
- Johnson noted that he questioned the times of other runners besides Amusan’s
By Kate McGreavy for Dailymail.Com
Published: 16:12, 25 July 2022 | Updated: 16:48, July 25, 2022
Track legend Michael Johnson has been accused of “black racism” after questioning whether Nigerian sprinter Tobi Amusan’s world record was valid.
The 100-meter hurdler broke Kendra Harrison’s 2016 world record by 0.08 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon on Sunday.
BBC pundit Johnson, who claimed four Olympic and eight World Championship golds in a stellar track career, was skeptical of Amusan’s time.
“I don’t think 100 hours is right. World record broken by .08! Seven of 12 PBs. 5 national records set. And Cindy Sember quoted after her PB/NR “I was running really slow!” All the athletes seemed surprised [sic].
‘Heat 2 first showed us a winning time of 12.53. A few seconds later it shows 12.43. Rounding down by 0.01 is normal. .10 is not.’
Amusan became world champion in an even faster time later at Hayward Field, but the time did not count toward the records due to a strong tailwind.
Johnson has been accused of being racist for questioning the accuracy of Amusan’s world record time of 12.12 seconds.
Michael Johnson questioned the validity of Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan’s world record
The BBC pundit and former runway star was accused of ‘black racism’ on social media
Amusan obliterated Kendra Harrison’s 2016 world record by 0.08 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon
One Twitter user responded to Johnson’s comments, writing: “Michael Johnson, are you naturally this crazy or do you have to work hard?
“Why don’t you channel your energy into recovering from your blow you black racist!
“Tobi Amusan is a world record and you can’t do anything about it.”
Another said: “Just because it’s not an American WR doesn’t mean the times were wrong,” while one added: “You questioned the record when an American broke the record?”
BBC pundit Johnson was skeptical about the time set by Amusan and other athletes
Johnson called the backlash he received “unacceptable” and noted that he didn’t just question Amusan’s timing
Johnson called the backlash he received “unacceptable” and noted that he didn’t just question Amusan’s timing.
He later wrote on his Twitter account: “The level of nonsense on my feed right now is truly amazing!
“As a commentator, my job is to comment. By questioning the times of 28 athletes (not 1 athlete) wondering if the timing system was malfunctioning.
“I was attacked, accused of racism and questioning the talent of an athlete I love and predicted would win. Unacceptable. I’m moving on.
Johnson won four Olympic golds and eight World Championship golds in a stellar track career