NEWSWEEK: How did you motivate yourself when you were so far above the competition?

Michael Johnson: For myself, knowing that I’m physically gifted, I never wanted that to go to waste. The only way to do that is to go out and use it. The other thing is, once you become great or you show the potential to be great, that pressure is there to continue that. So I would never accept anything less. I know I’m capable of running 43 seconds every time I run 400 meters. So running a 44.2 and still winning by 10 or 15 meters-which is a long way-is unacceptable. I know I’m better than that. You get to a point where it’s not just about winning; it’s about dominating. And it’s about being the best you can be.

Did you get to the point where you were only competing against yourself?

I always thought it would be dangerous if I ever thought I was only competing against the clock. If you’re telling yourself during practice, “I’m doing this because I wanna break the world record,” that’s not gonna put that fear in you. Even if you don’t break the world record, you’re not a loser. If you put in your head, “I’ve gotta train hard because I don’t want to lose to these other guys,” then that will motivate you.

You said you aren’t satisfied with anything less than peak performance … that must mean you’re disappointed a lot.

Yeah, I think that’s exactly what it means. Sometimes my coach would be like, “Why are you disappointed? You won.” And I’d say, “Yeah, but that race felt like crap.” I may have made a mistake and, down the road, that mistake could cost me a race. You always want to execute to perfection, because you know that one of these days you’re gonna need that.

What are the costs of being this good?

The expectations. I can go out there and run 43.9 and blow away the field and it was no big deal to anyone. Even though nobody else in the sport had run that fast in eight years. But people just expected me to do that all the time.

But you expected that too, right?

Yeah, but I felt like it was fair for me to judge myself like that [laughs]. But not for others to. Don’t expect a world record from me every time just because I do.

Do you see any similarities between you and Tiger Woods?

We’re fearless. You’ve got to hate to lose but not be afraid to lose.

Track and golf are similar in the sense that you’ve only got control over your own performance-you can’t trip the guy in the lane next to you just like Tiger can’t grab the other guy’s ball and throw it in a pond. But you can affect other guys with your mind. Does Tiger do that, and did you?

Definitely. When you establish that level of dominance, the first thing people try to do is raise their game. But once they realize they’re not gonna catch you, they’re competing for second. That makes it easier because they’re not even thinking about you anymore. That motivated me, too, because I didn’t want to lose and let those guys see a little bit of light. I didn’t want them to think, “Oh, there’s hope.” If that happens, then you’ve got to start over.

Joe Montana says he suspects that all of these guys have in common that they hate losing more than they enjoy winning. Do you agree?

It comes to a point where that’s the case, but it doesn’t start out like that. It gets like that because you get so used to winning that it’s not nearly as big a deal to win as it is to lose. Not only for the fans, but for the competitors as well. You’ve been winning for so long that, unfortunately, you don’t get that same joy from victory as when you weren’t expected to win. That happens eventually. Winning becomes common. It’s too bad. It really is. But it has its rewards too, when you look back on your career.