Fans rush to Michael Johnson's defense after he's accused of 'black racism' for questioning Tobi Amusan's world record
Four-time Olympic gold medallist and sprint icon Michael Johnson was accused of racism after he questioned the accuracy of some finishing times at the World Athletics Championships. Johnson’s skepticism came to light as Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan set a world record in the 100-meter hurdles semifinals with a time of 12.12 seconds at the event in Oregon on July 24. She had previously finished fourth at the Olympics last year and fourth at the world championships in 2019.
The backlash towards Johnson, 54, who won Olympic gold medals in the 200-meter, 400-meter, and 4x400-meter relays over the course of his career, came after the event’s semi-final when Amusan set a record of 12.12 seconds. The 25-year-old smashed the previous record by 0.08 seconds, leading her way into the finals. Johnson was met with accusations that he was biased toward the Nigerian team when he tweeted about Amusan's performance. "I don’t believe 100h times are correct. World record broken by .08! 12 PBs set. 5 National records set. And Cindy Sember's quote after her PB/NR ‘I thoroughly I was running slow!’ All athletes looked shocked," he wrote. "Heat 2 we were first shown a winning time of 12.53. A few seconds later it shows 12.43. Rounding down by .01 is normal. .10 is not," he added.
