Michael Duane Johnson is without question the golden boy of athletics.

With gold medals, gold bars and - of course - his famous gold running shoes, Johnson stands head and shoulders above his rivals.

The 32-year-old has taken 400m running to another level since bursting onto the scene in 1988.

In the 12 years since, Johnson has picked up 12 gold medals, smashed record after record and even claimed a share of 20kg of gold bars in the ``Golden Four'' events in 1993 and 1995.

But life hasn't always been rosy for the Texan.

Back in 1988 Johnson - nicknamed ``The Duck'' because of his upright running style - trailed home seventh in the 400m at the American Olympic trials and a year later he was second in the American Indoor Championships.

Little did his competitors realise that they would have to wait eight years before he was beaten again over one lap.

By 1990 he had made his first major impression by becoming the first man to top the 200m and 400m rankings - a feat he achieved five times in the 90s.

His 200m gold at the 1991 World Championships gave him belief and he opened his Olympic account with 4x400m gold in Barcelona.

Gold medals at 400 and 4x400 followed at the 1993 World Championships, the latter due mainly to Johnson's world-record leg of 42.94sec.

His form continued in 1993 with three World Championship golds - but despite medal after medal, a lack of world records frustrated Johnson.

The first to go was the 400m indoor record, which he lowered to 44.97 and then smashed with a 44.63 at the US Indoor Championships in 1995.

Pietro Mennea's 200m mark of 19.75sec followed, with Johnson running 19.66 at the 1996 Olympic trials.

To top that, he became the first man to win both 200m and 400m gold at the same Games, lowering his 200 record to 19.32 in the process with arguably the greatest run of all time.

He bagged his third successive World Championship 400m gold a year later - but falling short of ``Butch'' Reynolds' 400m mark of 43.29sec continued to irritate him.

His frustration got the better of him prior to the championships as he hurried back from injury to finish fifth in Paris, bringing to an end his phenomenal 59-race unbeaten record.

As always though, Johnson bounced back in style by confirming his position as the best 400m runner in history at the 1999 World Championships.

He broke Reynolds' 11-year-old world record by 0.11sec en route to winning gold, before anchoring the victorious American 4x400m side.

Johnson started the Olympic season confident of defending his double gold in Sydney, but injury robbed him of the chance.

At the American trials, he eased through qualification for the 400m, but cramp caused him to hobble out of the shorter distance.

Johnson looked on the bright side of his elimination, though.

He said: ``All I can do is concentrate on the 400m and that means running 42 seconds.''

With Johnson's record that sends one message to the rest of the world - be afraid, be very afraid.