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They really are two different people, the Michael who runs the more strategic 400 and the Michael who runs the more aggressive 200. The 400 Michael listens to jazz on his headset in the days before a race; the 200 Michael listens to gangsta rap. The 400 Michael repairs to Waco, Texas, after the opening ceremonies to work with Hart. The 200 Michael parties the night away at Planet Hollywood with actor Billy Baldwin, skier Picabo Street and former decathlete Daley Thompson. The 400 Michael checks in on his Website www.michaeljohnson.com to answer fan mail, and carries with him a letter from Ruth Owens in which she writes that she sees her late husband Jesse in him. "Greatest compliment I've ever been paid," says Johnson, whose upright running style has often been compared to that of the '36 Olympics hero. On the other hand, the 200 Michael plots a product line called "The Danger Zone" and heaps even more pressure on himself by having Nike make him nine pairs of gold shoes for the Games. "Sure, it was bold," says agent Brad Hunt, who successfully lobbied for the schedule change that allowed Johnson--and Perec--to go for the double. "Some athletes thought it was crazy. But the way Michael figured it, he has always done his best under pressure."
Occasionally, Jekyll and Hyde get confused. After winning his 400 semifinal last Monday, Johnson threw his shoes into the stands, then belatedly and sheepishly realized that the shoes have spikes. Johnson's only real competition in the 400, world-record holder Butch Reynolds, pulled a hamstring in his semifinal, so the thrill of the final lay in the widening distance between Johnson and his rivals--it was like watching Secretariat in the Belmont. Unpressed, he won his 55th straight 400 in 43.39, an Olympic record just 0.2 sec. off Reynolds' world standard. "I'll get that record eventually," said Johnson, pulling on a T shirt that read DANGER ZONE. "But now I think about the 200. Danger Zone--that's where I have to go now. I've got to get more aggressive. I've got 48 hours to prepare. The other 200 guys are saying that because I did the 400, I'm vulnerable. That's a mistake." Yikes.
Johnson came up with the idea of the Danger Zone four years ago, after food poisoning took him out of the Barcelona Olympics. He felt he needed to psychically bridge the gap between the 400 and the 200. Even coach Hart, a folksy Texan who prefers to sit at the halfway mark of a race so he can time Michael's split, goes along with the transition, filling the sprinter's head with tough and fast imagery in the days between the two races. Agent Hunt and Johnson had hoped to promote their Danger Zone line of merchandise last week, but once the bomb exploded, they wisely decided to back off. Product line or not, Johnson was clearly in the zone as the 200 approached, growing surlier and surlier. "You have to understand," said Hart, "Michael's been on a four-year mad ever since Barcelona."