Michael Johnson

In 1998, he married Kerry Doyen, an entertainment reporter and the couple had a child together.

He currently lives in Marin County, California with his second wife, Armine Shamiryan, and his son Sebastian from the first marriage.

Michael Duane Johnson was born in Dallas, Texas to Ruby Johnson, a truck driver and Ruby Johnson, a school teacher.

He attended the Skyline High School in Pleasant Grove, Dallas, where he broke the school record for the 200 metre run and the 4X400 metre relay.

At the age of ten, he began running and later he won several titles for indoor and outdoor sprints and relays at Baylor University.

In 1988, he applied to enter the Summer Olympics in Seoul, but he could not participate due to a stress fracture.

In 1989, he won the second position at the USA Indoor Championship and was the runner-up of the NCAA Outdoor Championship.

In 1990, he completed his bachelor’s degree from the Baylor University and at the same time, held the number one world ranking in both the 200m and the 400m sprinting.

In 1991, he earned the world 200m title in Tokyo and created a record by winning by the largest margin since Jesse Owens won the event in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

In 1993, he won the 400m U.S. title and subsequently won the gold in 400m and 4X400m relay in 4th World Championships in Athletics, held in Stuttgart, Germany.

In 1996, he was the recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the ‘top amateur athlete in any sport in the U.S’.

In 1996, he was conferred the title of ‘ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year’.

In 2004, he was inducted into the ‘United States Track and Field Hall of Fame’.

He was the torch bearer in the run up to the London 2012 Olympics.