Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The more he thinks about it, the more absurd the proposition: Allen Johnson wants to win another Olympic gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles in Beijing.

Johnson, who won the Olympic gold 12 years ago in Atlanta, turned 37 Saturday. He has been injured for most of the last two seasons. The high hurdles are, arguably, the most competitive event on the track program. And, oh yes, Chinese mega-star Liu Xiang, the reigning Olympic champ in the event, will be competing in front of his home crowd.

Johnson, a 1989 graduate of Lake Braddock High, is going after the gold anyway.

He can already hear the laughter, because some of it is his own.

"This is what I call a wild-goose chase," the Washington-born Johnson said by phone from his training home in Irmo, S.C. "Who in their right mind at 37 years old thinks he has a shot to win a gold medal in a sprint event? That's crazy."

Johnson, who competes in this weekend's IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, recognizes he will have his work cut out for him -- even at the U.S. Olympic trials in track and field in June, where he expects reigning world silver medalist and U.S. champ Terrence Trammell to be the favorite.

Johnson, who lost to Howard grad David Oliver in the 60 hurdles final at the U.S. indoor championships last weekend in Boston, wanted to compete this winter to work himself back into competitive form. He missed most of 2007 with four separate calf injuries. In 2006, he had hamstring problems. He hasn't won a major title in four years, and failed to medal at the 2000 and 2004 Games.

"People are going to keep an eye on me because of what I've done in the past, but there are not going to be a whole lot of expectations," Johnson said.

Johnson, though, wants another chance to celebrate an Olympic gold. After winning in Atlanta in 1996, he picked up his 3-year-old daughter Tristine and memorably walked her around the stadium. He would love to do it all again. Well, most of it.

Tristine is now 16.

"I will definitely not," he said, "carry her around the track."

-- Amy Shipley