Hello, I'm Kirstie Young.

Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the Radio broadcast.

For more information about the program, please visit bbc.co.uk-radio4.

My cast away this week is the athlete and now commentator Michael Johnson.

He's the only person ever to hold world records in the 200 and 400 metres at the same time.

By the time he hung up his legendary gold Nike trainers, his whole of medals included five Olympic golds.

The youngest of five children, he started running because he says he always wanted to catch up.

He was 10 when he won his first race, a 50-yard dash.

He says the feeling of that win has never left him.

I'd like to be remembered as nothing more than what I am, he says.

The most consistent and versatile sprinter who ever sprinted.

You once said that as strong as my legs are, it is my mind that has made me a champion.

Tell me about that.

Well, I think the thing is with great athletes, there is certainly a mental component to achieving success as an athlete.

People say, is it what percentage of athletic success is physical and what percentage is mental?

I think you have to strive to be 100% proficient in both areas.

As much as it looks like it's easy for athletes who are physically gifted at the professional level, we all are.

Yes, it's a difficult thing for us mere mortals to understand when we watch people like you in a race.

Of course, we see the physical perfection that almost makes you all seem like a different species.

But we also wonder why the hell you put yourself through it.

Well, I think people somewhat over exaggerate the life of an athlete and the journey.

...