Busy day in Prague for Johnson precedes
Ostrava
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
30 May 2001 - Prague - Michael Johnson swept into Prague today (Wednesday) for several public appearances prior to his departure for Ostrava and the Golden Spike meeting this evening.
At a noontime gathering in packed Wenceslas Square in the heart of the Czech capital, the Olympic champion signed autographs and also participated in an auction of sports memorabilia.
A pair of Johnsons legendary 24-carat gold Nike spikes (appropriately juxtaposed with the Golden Spike name of the Ostrava meeting) fetched 170,000 Czech crowns, somewhat in excess of $4000.
Other Czech Olympic champions, such as three-time javelin winner Jan Zelezny and 1952 javelin gold medallist Dana Zatopková (widow of famed distance runner Emil Zatopek), also contributed items of Olympic interest to the auction, the proceeds of which will benefit a charity for handicapped children.
Johnson was then whisked to Stromovka park, where he conducted a clinic for young Czech runners, teaching them the fundamentals of proper warm-ups and stretching.
A 4x400 relay on Thursday will mark the first European stop in Johnsons farewell tour, which began in late April at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Slated to join him on the relay will be Jerome Davis, Derrick Brew and James Carter.
The meeting will be the first opportunity for Czech athletic fans to greet the new decathlon world-record holder, Roman Sebrle, as he runs the 110-metre hurdles with his training partner, the dethroned world-record holder Tomás Dvorák. The race will match these two multi-event athletes with several hurdle specialists, namely world-record holder Colin Jackson and Sydney Olympic champion Anier Garcia.
World indoor champion Anjanette Kirkland leads the list in the womens hurdles.
The first two placers in the Sydney mens javelin, Jan Zelezny and Steve Backley, will square off for the first time this season. And the mens high jump looks also to be a top-drawer event, with world champion Vyacheslav Voronin joining world-record holder Javier Sotomayor and world indoor champion Stefan Holm.
The womens pole vault is an opportunity to showcase the Czechs new world indoor champion Pavla Hamácková, as she duels with Anzhela Balakhonova and several other top European vaulters.
Also on the program will be reigning Olympic champion Iván Pedroso in the long jump, Wilson Boit Kipketer in the steeplechase, and Jerome Young in the mens 400.
Preview and photograph by Ed Gordon