Campbell bust-up with TV pundit

Darren Campbell was involved in an angry nightclub confrontation with five times Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson after the American star criticised him on television.

Britain's leading sprinter Campbell and British athletics chiefs are fuming over Johnson's comments, made on the BBC last night, which implied the runner has been feigning a hamstring injury.

According to Campbell's manager, the Manchester sprinter asked Johnson at a party last night whether he was accusing him of lying about his injury and the American said yes.

In an effort to prove Johnson wrong, Bryan English, the British athletics team doctor, was today planning to provide the BBC with an MRI scan proving that Campbell has a hamstring tear. He told Standard Sport that Johnson's comments were "disgraceful".

The row started when Johnson told TV viewers after Campbell was eliminated in the semifinals of the 200metres: "No one's ever questioned he's a great athlete but he's obviously not in shape right now. So why not just say that? Everyone will respect that. But when you pull a hamstring you're out for six weeks, you can't run.

"After the second round, I felt bad for Darren coming off the track, wincing. But then he said 'I'm going to run the semi-final'. I felt like I'd been taken advantage of as a viewer and supporter of Darren."