100m hurdles queen Tobi Amusan finally delivered a fitting response to her doubters, especially 400m great Michael Johnson, in an interview following her return to Nigeria. The world champion had avoided speaking about the comments made by the American sprint legend after her record-breaking feat.
After Amusan broke the world record in the semifinals of the women’s 100m hurdles at the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Oregon, Johnson tweeted his doubts about the legality of the time she posted.
“I don’t believe 100h times are correct. World record broken by .08! 12 PBs set. 5 National records set. And Cindy Sember quote after her PB/NR “I thoroughly I was running slow!” All athletes looked shocked.”
Amusan refused to comment and proceeded to beat the 12.12s record she set by running a wind-aided 12.06s in the final. Her final time was not legal as the wind speed was way above the legal limit, but she proved that she was not a one-hit wonder. She has since gone on to set new Commonwealth Games and Diamond League Meet records.
In a chat with Beat FM, she expressed her disappointment at Michael Johnson’s comments, saying records are meant to be broken.
“As much as I try not to answer this question, I’ll answer it this one time. At a point, I felt like you are an artiste. “Things are meant to happen; records are meant to be broken. But the fact that he just had that much to say about me, says a lot about him.
“Because I’ve been on the circuit, he’s seen me run. I wouldn’t get mad at him because the person they expect to actually break the world record did not, so coming from a black girl from Nigeria just got them really worked up, so they got to deal with it.”
Amusan is currently in the running to become the first Nigerian World Athlete of the Year. The 25-year-old is gunning for the award alongside nine other top athletes from all over the world.
