Oh, just let Michael Johnson do it all...

I can barely watch Denise Lewis or Colin Jackson now.

had a seat behind her on a flight from tampa a few years ago, a miserable, moaning, rude, fussy cow

Looks like you all woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

Colin Jackson isn't too bad. He's positive but doesn't hang medals around athlete's necks unlike most of the others. Johnson is on another level. Never liked the commentator in the stadium.

Surely Johnson could get paid more in the US.  For some reason he seems to love Britain, he's class

Class runner, class commentator

very nearly a better commentator than he was a runner

and made a great documentary about black sprinters too


gives a great insight into all sides of sport, if you cant learn from him you may as well not bother.

agreed

when it comes to delivering insightful commentary, johnson knows how to "execute"

Always thought Michael Johnson was the guvnor when it comes to punditry.  Not afraid to criticise and can do it from the knowledge of what it takes to be a champion.

Colin Jackson is OK if a bit annoying.  But Jonathan Edwards is simply awful.  Knows nothing about most athletics events above what a reasonable fan would know, and doesn't offer any technical insight which is surely why he's there.  I remember at the world champs when he was muddling his way through the hammer competition, and the main commentator (Paul Dickinson) actually said, "well that shows just how much you know about hammer throwing."
And he does that stupid laugh every time someone does a good jump or throw.  Listen out for it; it will drive you mad.

Denise Lewis is not even worthy of comment.  Ortis Deley and Sonali Shah are about as insightful and knowledgeable as she is, and on a similar standard of presentation.

Johnson is class.  Tells it how it is and isn't afraid to disagree with the party of loons around him.  Always fair and knowledgeable, a top man!

Tis a surprise the Beeb have had MJ for so long.

Denise: 'Jess's entrance will literally blow the stadium roof off'

Couple of errors there dear

Johnson knows about training and running.  I remember during the 2008 (?) Olympics he was chatting to one of the British 400m athletes and talking about training.  The blank look on the athlete's face told me a lot about why Johnson has a sack of golds and others don't and won't.

There's no market for track and field commentary in the US - that is why Johnson came over here straight away and has stayed.

Thorpe and Foster class in swimming

Doesn't he run a club or academy or some such like in the US though?

No idea why give Johnson's record he is slumming it over here when he could be a commentary icon in his homeland. For the last 5 years denise lewis has been visibly creaming herself every time she is within two seats of him, what a guy.

Getting paid 200k a year apparently. Easy money. Glad he is here, would be a shambles without him

He's like a fast Will.I.am

Fraction of what the likes of Hanson, Lawro, et al are on then.

yeah Darlo and more knowledgeable. He is a multi millionaire to be fair and his passion for Athetics is unimpaired

You've got your answer. Track and field or athletics as we know it is one of our bigger sports in a country where many sports have a sizeable following. It is nowhere in America. I think Johnson also genuinely appreciates the level of understanding our athletic community have about the sport whereas in the USA it is USA and only the USA they are interested in. As an afficionado this rankles with the great man. A giant amongst giants on the track and a giant amongst pygmys when it comes to insight amogst pundits.

spot on Eeternaloptimist. Shame he has to work with a few jack ****

He is great, but he must be sick to death of sitting with a bunch of buffoons who only want to talk about the British entrants. By the end of the games, he will be hoping that they all fail, so that he gets the chance to talk about world class athletics as opposed to the tragic back-story of someone who got to the semi-finals while world records are being ignored by all and sundry

That 10,000m grated on me tonight. Ignoring a superb victory to concentrate on two Brits battling it out for lower positions.

MJ was the commensurate athlete. Great pundit now too.

Understands and explains 'incremental gains' i.e the minutiae that goes into winning medals.

Someone has already posted that Jonathan Edwards said in commentary that an athlete could not prepare to face a crowd of 80,000 people - and Johnson then went on to explain, engagingly, exactly how and why they could.

Brings a completely fresh dimension beyond the 'He just needs to focus' non-speak of the majority of pundits.

he looks like he could still run, yet he's about 44 years old

there was something during daegu when all of the studio ponced around without tackling the issue because it was a brit, johnson just came out and said what everyone was thinking and he was spot on

the best by miles

had a seat behind her on a flight from tampa a few years ago, a miserable, moaning, rude, fussy cow

Colin Jackson?

Michael Johnson is a pretty good commentator but still a little overrated in my book. He's only perceived as being an excellent commentator because he sits amidst a very boring and biased bunch of co-commentators and compared to them it's not hard to impress.

That a commentator takes the time to explain the intricacies of each sporting event is the minimum we should expect. Some of these comms are being paid £millions per year but don't even try to be interesting or informative.

The BBC seem to prefer glib sycophantic robots (Lineker) than those who have their own personality, might speak their mind, or call it as they see it. There should be many like MJ on the Beeb, but alas he is the only shining light by default.