Olympic legend says he would've beaten prime Usain Bolt because of his three 'extraordinary' traits

A former Olympic athlete believes he possessed three traits which could’ve seen him beat Usain Bolt during the Jamaican’s prime.

Bolt, 38, reached his peak in 2009 when he broke the 100 and 200m world records at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

He returned a time of 9.58s in the shorter distance and 19.19s in the 200m race – with both records standing to this day.

However, former US sprinter Michael Johnson believes he could’ve beaten the Jamaican if the pair raced at the same time.

Johnson, 57, retired from the sport in 2001 having set world records in both the 200 and 400m events.

His record time of 19.32s in 200m was broken by Bolt at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before the 38-year-old broke his own record the following year.

In 2016, Johnson said: “I win that race every day. Every time we line up, I win that race, guaranteed,” when discussing if he’d beat the Jamaica-born sprinter if they had faced each other.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist doubled down on his stance when speaking on the High Performance Podcast in 2024.

Johnson said: “I think I could rise to whatever occasion.

“Usain's an amazing athlete and he would have had an advantage on me a little bit out of the blocks. But when he's slowing down at the end, he's not the most efficient at the end of the race.

“I'm extraordinarily efficient. I would have beaten him on speed endurance, the ability to hold my speed, and my ability to be more efficient.

“And I'm just going to stick to that until the day I go to my grave.”

Michael Johnson broke the 200m world record in 1996 (Credit:Getty)

Bolt also appeared on another episode of the podcast and claimed: “No way he's going to beat me!"

And no matter what Johnson claims or thinks, the numbers are on Bolt’s side – although there’s an argument that sports science and even equipment had advanced between the pair’s peak years.

There’s no doubt that Johnson would have likely been one of Bolt’s toughest opponents, but the Jamaican named another athlete as the one who provided the toughest challenge.

“[Justin Gatlin] is one of the best I have faced," Bolt said in a post-race interview after he finished third – behind Gatlin and Christian Coleman - at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, England.

“He deserves to be here, he’s done his time, and he’s worked hard to get back to being one of the best athletes.”