Johnson will not crawl for wild card

PRAGUE, MAY 31. Five-times Olympic champion Michael Johnson has run a long way in his career, and he certainly is not going to crawl to the U.S. Track officials for a wild card entry to August's World Championships.

Johnson, the 200 and 400 metres world record holder, who has announced his intention to retire, wants to run in the U.S. 4 X 400m relay team at the championships in Edmonton. But American policy states that Johnson must either run in at least one round of June's U.S. Championships in Eugene (Oregon), or seek a waiver allowing him to compete - something Johnson does not want to do. Johnson, as a defending world champion, could have received an automatic wild card to Edmonton in the 400m, but there are no relay wild cards and even the individual event `free pass' has been altered in the U.S. to require the waiver or participation in the national championships.

``I don't know where these rumours get started. Talk of me in the relay with a wild card...Is not true. I have not asked for one...and don't plan to,'' the 33-year-old Texan said during a charity event in Prague.

Johnson, the holder of nine World Championship titles, is on a worldwide farewell tour running only relay events. On Wednesday, he auctioned a pair of his `golden spikes' for a children's charity for 171,000 Czech Crowns ($ 4,275).

He said that while it took him 11 years to break Butch Reynolds' world record for the 400 metres sprint he doubts it will be that long again before someone breaks either that 1999 record of 43.18s, or his 200 metres sprint record of 19.32s.

''You never know when a record will be broken. I am sure that they (the 200 and 400m marks) will be broken, there are a lot of runners training so hard, it has to fall someday soon.'' - Reuters

Legendary American Olympian, Michael Johnson handing over his famed `golden spikes' to a hostess of a charity auction in Prague on Wednesday. The athlete, whose shoes fetched about $ 4275, has said that he would not seek a wild card to run at this year's World Championships.

- Reuters

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