Few people have ever dominated an event to the degree that Johnson has. Of the 20 fastest 400m runs ever, he has accounted for 13 of them. And since setting this high in 1999, nobody has come with 0.3 seconds of matching it.

But probably the greatest performance of Johnson's career came in the 200m, specifically the 1996 Olympics final. Many observers thought that Johnson's assault on two events that overlap in the schedule was foolhardy and borderline impossible . . . needless to say he proved the doubters wrong again. In the 400m he coasted to victory, finishing over a second ahead of silver medallist Roger Black in the final, while in the 200m he ran an astounding 19.32 seconds, shattering his own existing world record of 19.66 to chalk up the largest improvement on a 200m world record ever.

Some experts compared the feat to Bob Beamon's leap into the history books back in Mexico in 1968. In the intervening years no sprinter has gotten within 0.3 seconds of the record.

The following year Johnson appeared in ads billing himself as the fastest man on earth, an unofficial title usually given to the 100m record holder, at the time Donovan Bailey. So the two faced off against each other for the title at the Toronto Sky Dome over 150m, sadly though Johnson pulled up with an injury during the race and Bailey took the honours (and a $1.5 million prize).

Nonetheless, once there was a curve in the track it can't be questioned that Johnson's claim to being the fastest man on the planet was legitimate, and his world records are likely to stand testament to that fact for many years to come.