Prove it yearly not with gold medals - Michael Johnson rubbishes Noah Lyles' claims as the fastest man in the world

Grand Slam Track boss Michael Johnson has given an interesting take on Noah Lyles' claims as the fastest man in the world.

Johnson who retired as a four-time Olympic gold medallist and eight-time world champion, revealed that being the world's fastest man has to be proven yearly not by winning gold medals at major championships.

"I'm the fastest man in the world...If your position is if you've got to keep trying to explain to people that you're the fastest man in the world because of something that you did last year, we are the answer to your problem. Because you have to continue to prove to people that you are the best," said Johnson on the Beach Sports podcast.

The Grand Slam Track boss further reiterated that Lyles is undervalued in the sport because he only shows up for the world championships or Olympics and not consistently at competition meets to prove he's the best.  

"The problem with track that has always been is that if you rely on one big event every four years to prove that you're the problem, you're going to have a problem. And that's why you're undervalued," he said.

"That's why you know Noah has the problem that he has. He's saying: hey, I want my own shoe, why don't I have my own shoe? Because you can't show value because you're in an event that only takes place every four years."

Lyles stunned the track community when he won the Olympic 100m gold last summer in Paris, adding to his sprint world titles in 2023. As the reigning Olympic and world champion, he earned the bragging rights to be called the fastest man in the world.

However, he and other track tars such as Sha'Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, and Letsile Tebogo refused to sign for Johnson's professional Grand Slam Track League, recently citing the new competition does not improve his personal brand.

"I've worked very long to increase my value in this sport. When he came to me and asked me to be a part of it, he gave me a number and we said the number is not a fraction of what my worth is right now. And this was before the Olympics," said Lyles on the Funky Friday podcast show.

"We came back after the Olympics and I said that I still like what you're doing, I'd like to be a part of it but if I'm not going to financially gain on one side. I have to market-wise get value from it. And at the time he could not give me enough reason in my head to believe that I was going to market-wise get enough value from it."

Lyles and Johnson have been at loggerheads, attacking each other in various media avenues.

The controversial statement by Johnson can be far-fetched, considering he chased after the gold medals, money, and personal brand visibility during his legendary career.