Michael Johnson is accused of ‘black racism’ after questioning Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan’s time when she obliterated the 100m hurdles world record – as huge numbers of athletes recorded personal bests at the World Championships
- Michael Johnson has been accused of racism after questioning a world record
- Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan smashed Kendra Harrison’s 2016 110m hurdle time
- Amusan beat previous record by 0.08 secs at World Athletics Championships
- Johnson pointed out that he questioned other runners’ times besides Amusan’s
Track legend Michael Johnson has been accused of ‘black racism’ after questioning whether Nigerian sprinter Tobi Amusan’s world record was valid.
The 110-meter hurdler smashed Kendra Harrison’s 2016 world record by 0.08 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon Sunday.
BBC pundit Johnson, who claimed four Olympic golds and eight World Championship golds in a stellar track career, was skeptical of the time clocked by Amusan.
‘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 throughly I was running slow!’ All athletes looked shocked [sic].
‘Heat 2 we were first shown winning time of 12.53. Few seconds later it shows 12.43. Rounding down by .01 is normal. .10 is not.’
Amusan became world champion in an ever faster time later in the day at Hayward Field but the time did not count due to the tailwind.
Johnson has been accused of being racist for casting doubt over 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 track star was accused of ‘black racism’ on social media
Amusan annihilated Kendra Harrison’s 2016 world record by 0.08 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon
A Twitter user responded to Johnson’s comments 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!
‘Tobi Amusan is a world record holder and there’s nothing you can do about that.’
BBC pundit Johnson was skeptical of the time clocked by Amusan and other athletes
Johnson branded the backlash he received as ‘unacceptable’ and pointed out that he did not only question Amusan’s time
Another said: ‘Just because it’s not an American WR doesn’t mean the times were incorrect,’ while one added: ‘Did you question the record when an American break the record?’
Johnson branded the backlash he received as ‘unacceptable’ and pointed out that he did not only question Amusan’s time.
He wrote later on his Twitter account: ‘The level of dumbassery coming across my feed right now is truly staggering!
‘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.’
Johnson won four Olympic golds and eight World Championship golds in stellar track career
Share this article
Source: Read Full Article
