Michael Johnson's Olympic recap - Day Eight - video Dailymotion

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson admits the 200m Olympics final is Noah Lyles' 'to lose'

Transcript

00:00What was absolutely critical for me to deliver as a heavy favorite was understanding how to manage that pressure.

00:10I want you to tell me about what it's like to be a favorite. Gold on the line, target on your back.

00:15And when you're a favorite, everybody's watching you. You're always conscious that there is this expectation.

00:22Some athletes love being in that position. It's like, yeah, bring it on.

00:27And then there's some athletes that want to sort of hide back a little bit.

00:31And if you are the favorite, unfortunately, there's nowhere to hide.

00:36I like being in the position of favorite. I liked all eyes on me. I know that I perform best under pressure.

00:42I knew that about myself. When I enter a stadium, knowing that everybody in here is looking at me.

00:48And if I don't do it, they're going to be disappointed. Haters are going to be happy.

00:52I'm never going to hear the end of it.

00:54What do I need to do right now in this moment to deliver my best performance?

01:00What's going on at the track tonight, Michael?

01:02Finals tonight. First up, we got 200 meters, Noah Lyles.

01:07This is Noah's race to lose. He's a three-time world champion. He's got the fastest times in the world.

01:12Hasn't lost a race in forever, but it is a race. Nobody's going to give it to him.

01:16You got people there that Kenny Bednarik, Arian Knighton, those guys, they want gold too.

01:22They'll have to have the race of their lives and Noah will have to falter in order for somebody else to take that gold.

01:28Next up, 110 hurdles with Grant Holloway.

01:31Grant Holloway is hands down the best 110 hurdler right now.

01:35Every time Grant Holloway steps on the track at a championship, I'm a world record watch.

01:40Three-time world champion, missed out on the gold at the Olympics in Tokyo.

01:45Just a mistake on his part. He is out for gold.

01:48That's all he wants right now and it is absolutely what he's focused on.

01:53Women's 400-meter hurdles, one person everybody's talking about and thinking about, Sidney McLaughlin-Lefroney.

01:58This is the closest anyone's ever been to Sidney and it's Femke Ball.

02:03It will be interesting to see if this is the one time where Sidney finds herself in a race.

02:08She doesn't have a lot of experience with that because typically she's just gone and she's just in a race by herself.

02:13If Femke gets close enough to Sidney and starts to really challenge her,

02:18I think it's just going to push Sidney to a level that she's already capable of doing.

02:22You're always on world record watch when Sidney's on the track, so we could see that.

02:26I think we'll see Sidney repeat as 400-meter hurdles champion. Nobody's ever done that before.