Allen Kenneth Johnson (born March 1, 1971) is a retired hurdling athlete and won Olympic Gold in the 110 metre high hurdles at the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia.
Born in Washington, D.C., an all-round athlete, Johnson attended University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and excelled at high jump, long jump and decathlon as well as hurdles.
Career
Johnson was troubled by injury in 2000 but still made the final at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia just missing out on adding to his medal collection by finishing fourth.
2003 in the Stade de France, saw Johnson win his fourth IAAF World Championships in Athletics 110 m hurdles title when he beat Terrence Trammell into second to overtake the three world championship gold medals that Greg Foster had won at the event.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics he tripped over a hurdle in the 2nd preliminary round and was unable to finish the race and reach the final. He was however ranked world's number 1 throughout 2004's season.
Johnson is trained by Curtis Frye, at the University of South Carolina where he serves as a volunteer assistant coach. He resides in Irmo, South Carolina.
His personal best is 12.92 seconds, only 0.01 seconds short of the then-world record held by Colin Jackson, and 0.05 short of the current record of Dayron Robles. Johnson has legally finished 11 races in less than 13 seconds, more than anyone else so far. Johnson officially retired in July 2010, at the age of 39.
Achievements
(110 Meter Hurdles unless stated)
- 1994
- 1994 IAAF World Cup - London, England
- Silver
- 1994 IAAF World Cup - London, England
- 1995
- 1995 World Championships in Athletics - Gothenburg, Sweden
- Gold
- 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships - Barcelona, Spain
- 60 Meter Hurdles, Gold
- 1995 World Championships in Athletics - Gothenburg, Sweden
- 1996
- 1996 Summer Olympics - Atlanta, Georgia
- Gold, Olympic record
- 1996 Summer Olympics - Atlanta, Georgia
- 1997
- 1997 World Championships in Athletics - Athens, Greece
- Gold
- 1997 World Championships in Athletics - Athens, Greece
- 1998
- 1998 Goodwill Games - Uniondale, New York
- Gold
- 1998 Goodwill Games - Uniondale, New York
- 2000
- 2000 Summer Olympics - Sydney, Australia
- 2001
- 2001 World Championships in Athletics - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Gold
- Goodwill Games - Brisbane, Australia
- Gold
- 2001 World Championships in Athletics - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- 2002
- 2002 IAAF World Cup - Madrid, Spain
- Silver
- 2002 IAAF World Cup - Madrid, Spain
- 2003
- 2003 World Championships in Athletics - Paris, France
- Gold
- 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships - Birmingham, England
- 60 Meter Hurdles, Gold
- 2003 World Championships in Athletics - Paris, France
- 2004
- 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships - Budapest, Hungary
- 60 Meter Hurdles, Gold
- 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships - Budapest, Hungary
- 2005
- World Championships in Athletics - Helsinki, Finland
- Bronze
- World Championships in Athletics - Helsinki, Finland