BARCELONA 2010: Lewis-Francis is ungracious, says Michael Johnson

Posted: Thursday 29th July 2010 | 11:28

ATHLETICS legend Michael Johnson has slammed Mark Lewis-Francis for being ungracious following his 100m silver medal at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.

WAITING GAME: Mark Lewis-Francis waits to see the result of the 100m final at the European Athletics Championships. He finished second (Reuters)

Johnson has been a consistent critic of the sprinter, whose career has frequently flattered to deceive on the promise he displayed as a junior.

Lewis-Francis claimed his silver medal sent a message to those who believed he had wasted his talent, putting his finger to his mouth and saying ‘shush'.

"I didn't appreciate his comments or his lack of graciousness, telling his critics, of which I was one, to shush," said Johnson, the four-time Olympic and eight-time world champion, on the BBC.

"He blew up, he picked up a lot of weight and the criticism was justified.

"It was as if the criticism of him was unjustified, which it was not.

"It's fine but let's wait and see. Quiet me at the World Championships next year, quiet me at a Diamond League meeting next month."

It's not the first time Johnson has been savagely critical of British sprinters.

At the Athens Olympics he had a blazing row with Darren Campbell in a nightclub, after the British team captain took exception to comments that a hamstring injury could not have been as serious as he had claimed.

Comments

The amount of nasty remarks

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 20:35.

The amount of nasty remarks towards him has been outrageous. I dont care who your are if people for years are that nasty, then your first instinct is to fight back. Critics are rarely positive about anyone, all they do is put people down. If your not an athlete you cant say shit because the amount of hard work that goes into being the best is ridiculous and you dont know mark behind the scenes. Myself, people like mark work our ass off to get to where we are and you need to realize that we all cant be USAIN BOLT's. All we can do is our best. Appreciate each athlete for their talent.

MJ V MLF

Submitted by Freddie (not verified) on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 12:21.

I agree with MJ. He ran 10.21, he is hardly back? Granted MLF can only beat who turns up and its not his fault the race was slow one. Lets be truthfull folks. 10.21 time, MLF would be hard pushed to make an Olympic semi-final, let alone final However its not the time MJ was getting at. It was the way he reacted. Sure if he ran under 10 secs, do that kind of thing, but 10.21 shows a sign of arrogance that his times cannot back up. The BBC commentators are willing far to easy to blow smoke up at people bottoms, at least MJ tells it how it is. His career was based on being the best at the 2/400m for nearly a decade, with WR and Olympic/World golds.You wanna be the best, you listen when MJ talks.

michael johnson u r jealous

Submitted by speedy (not verified) on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 12:32.

michael johnson you are a star bt you should give athletes support rather than just criticising them,it doesnt mean if an athlete does not perform he is not talented,athletics is not an easy game with injurious involved,he criticised bolt in 2008,bt now bolt is the face of track & field,be a true legend mr.

hes not jealous.sometimes in

Submitted by Richard (not verified) on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 20:41.

hes not jealous.sometimes in life you have to critize people.And I am not biast but mark lewis francis did say that he could challenge the jamaicans which is just impossible.Because jamaicans are too fast for the world.

Want to see how a Champion behaves ?

Submitted by D Christie (not verified) on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 20:30.

Check out Philips Idowu on tv now.
MLF is a spoilt little child. The bitch could win a diamond medal for all I care. I've not seen such petulance. Is he trying to be a gangster? What a joke.
Respect Michael Johnson a true legend. Respect Philips Idowu a true champion. MLF, grow up and learn some manners.

I think michael should

Submitted by andy (not verified) on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 20:23.

I think michael should recognise mlf' s achievement and stop trying to defend his own ability as a pundit. he didn't predict that he would do well and mlf did so he should just accept it and fins another target to out down

Michael, really, butt out.

Submitted by track know (not verified) on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 18:26.

Michael, really, butt out. Give the guy some slack. You and the pundits didn't pick him to do anything and he did something. Don't do the crystal ball thing. You don't know what he is saying shhsh over. Hell, I am for anthing these guys do to bring some hype to the sport which could badly use it. Not everyone has to be as boring as you, Michael.

which is why Michael Johnson

Submitted by leon douglas (not verified) on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 20:18.

which is why Michael Johnson will go down in history and many others - including MLF and 'track know' will be forgotten about.
MLF is an embarassment - can't even look MJ in the eye when he should be gracious at winning his first ever individual medal.
MJ is 10 times the athlete MLF is. He's also 100 times the man.

Pipe down

Submitted by Mick Dyer (not verified) on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 17:55.

How about MLF gets out his European silver and compare it to what Michael Johnson achieved.

MLF

Submitted by kwright (not verified) on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 11:37.

Absolutely Michael Johnson. I agree. MLF running 10.18 and winning silver in a very low quality final means very little. MLF has always had no class in my view, I was disappointed he even beat drug cheat Chambers. Johnson is the best sports pundit around because he says it like it is and has also been there and done it. So shush you MLF.