Michael Johnson hits back at critics blasting BBC pundits for watching Olympics on screens

Michael Johnson has hit back at critics online who claimed he and other BBC Olympics pundits should have been watching the 100m men’s final live in the stadium rather than on a TV screen.

Johnson was part of the BBC’s commentary line-up alongside Jessica Ennis-Hill, Denise Lewis and host Gabby Logan for Sunday’s final, which saw Noah Lyles take home the gold.

Johnson watched on and instantly called Lyles as the winner before the photo finish had been announced during the final.

Despite being inside the stadium with the race going on behind them, Johnson and other pundits watched the action on a screen.

Now, after facing some pushback online, Johnson stated that watching on a screen was the best way to take in the action in order to analyse the race for viewers.

Johnson wrote: "For the people wondering why we’re watching “on TV” (they’re monitors and lots of them), instead of live, our live view isn’t ideal for analysis. We’re kinda working here!"

It comes after presenter and DJ Ewan Cameron questioned Johnson and other pundits, writing on Twitter/X: “BBC Olympic presenters have a seat in the stadium at the greatest sporting event on the planet and they watch history…. on the TV.”

However, Johnson seems to have answered that pretty comprehensively.

Johnson is one of the greatest sprinters in history and won four Olympic gold medals over the course of his career. He was part of the winning 4x400m relay team in Barcelona 1992, as well as 200m and 400m gold at Atlanta 1996 and 400m at Sydney 2000.

Meanwhile, American sprinter Lyles won gold in the 100m at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and he's got his sights set on two more, in the 200m and 4x100m relay events.

Not only that, but he might just well be the nerdiest world's fastest man of all time - and we're here for it.

Sign up for our free indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings