Johnson is sitting in front of me as an Olympic legend, thanks, in no small part, to his parents, but his rise to stardom is more about determination, dedication and, of course, his exploits on the track. When the 44-year-old is giving his views as a pundit on the BBC, the audience will listen.
His achievements at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 are likely to remain unmatched and mean his opinion counts. Having already won the 400metres, Johnson smashed the world record in the 200m, running it in 19.32sec, a mark that lasted until a certain Usain Bolt broke it in 2009.
He did it all wearing golden shoes and with an upright stance that defied all the sprinting text books. Johnson has four Olympic gold medals and when I playfully ask him if Bolt from 2008 would have beaten the 96-vintage Johnson over 200m, he raises an eyebrow and tells me in no uncertain terms: “I am only interested in questions that have answers!”
Ask him to name Britain’s best hopes for a gold and he reels off Jessica Ennis, Dai Greene, Phillips Idowu and Mo Farah. No shocks there. What does take me aback is his belief that too much is being made of the effect home advantage will have on Team GB. Relying on home backing, he says, could prove disastrous for the British competitors.
“Any athlete who is saying that they have an advantage when they go into the stadium to compete because the crowd is behind them is probably not focused on the competition,” he warns. “
“When I came out into the stadium in Atlanta, I felt a buzz that was amazing and that I had never felt before — it was probably because I had the gold shoes on and everybody was wowed by that. I had also been the focus of the Games and had eight races to determine whether my history-making performance was going to come off. But I cannot say I felt an advantage from the crowd. I felt it when I walked out for my first race but then I had to re-focus and focus on the task at hand and what I always had to do no matter where I was running. That’s what you have to do.
“You can hear the crowd but you are not listening. You have to be focused on what you are about to do — you are not a spectator. So you have no element of spectator advantage. If you are part of the media and you are in stands, then you are thinking about what is going on and you are taking it all in, you have to. As an athlete, if you are taking in any of that then you are probably not going to perform very well.
“British athletes should not take it in at all. You have to be focused on what you are going to do. You cannot be stood there going, ‘wow this is cool’.”
Any Briton who hears the national anthem at the end of their event will, though, have their life changed forever, according to Johnson.
“It is a tremendous opportunity because if I had done the same as I did in 1996 in any other country it would have been a different situation for me and my life may not have turned out the same,” he says. “But because it was a home Olympics, it was more impacting and more significant for me.
“Most athletes will never get the opportunity to participate in an Olympics in their own country so it is a very special time and you just have to make the most of it — so that has the added pressure on it.”
The monotone-speaking Johnson slips between questions and subjects with the same ease that he showed running a quarter-of-a-mile around a track. He displays his emotions only when we talk about two subjects; role models and drugs. First, the American looks slightly embarrassed when he tells me that only one athlete has ever thanked him for being their inspiration.
“Lopez Lomong,” says a coy Johnson. “He is now running for America at 5,000 metres, was originally Sudanese — he told me that I inspired him to be an athlete — which was kind of cool.
“Some athletes are motivated by seeing other athletes but it is rare. The athletes who excel are the ones who want to be better, not the ones who want to be someone else. It was like that for me. It wasn’t because I wanted to be Jesse Owens or because I had seen a book in the library about his life or I was inspired by his story.
“Jesse was a hero of mine but when I was running on the track the reasons why I wanted to be better had nothing to do with him.”
But it is on the issue of drugs that Johnson clearly still bears a scar, one so deep that when he is talking about the late Antonio Pettigrew, he looks close to tears.
Johnson returned his gold from the 400m relay at the 2000 Sydney Games when Pettigrew, one of the winning quartet, admitted taking performing-enhancing steroids eight years later. Pettigrew never recovered from the shame and committed suicide two years ago.
“I still feel disappointed and bitter about what happened,” says Johnson. “I am bitter because I had to hand back a medal; I am bitter because I am sure that is what contributed to Antonio taking his own life and he has a son who now does not have a father, a wife who does not have a husband anymore.
“He never told me why he did it — he never talked to me about it and I am bitter about that, too. He never said, ‘I am sorry’. Nothing good came out of it, it was a bad, bad situation.”
Not that the experience has taken all forgiveness away from Johnson. He is adamant that the punishments in place are not long enough, yet happy Dwain Chambers has been allowed a second chance and will run this summer.
“We have to remember that this is not just about Dwain,” he adds. “The issue is the future of sports and how can we deter people who are thinking about cheating from doing so.
“It is also about what is fair. So when you take all that into consideration, it is not about whether re-admitting Dwain to the Olympics was the right decision but it is about what is going to happen next. I am hopeful that what we will see now is a longer ban than two years and we will see people having to miss an Olympic Games once they have tested positive.
“I think that will serve as a better deterrent for those people who are considering cheating and it will also put the World Anti-Doping Organisation and the International Olympic Committee and the BOA and all other organisations — who all want the same thing and that is to catch the cheats — on the same page. That will be a much better system than having everyone fighting against each other in court.
“It would be consistent. Four-year bans are adequate but I would also be in favour of six years as well and you have to miss an Olympics.
“I would not want a life ban because I believe that everyone deserves a second chance.”
Never miss a moment of the London 2012 Olympics on BBC One, BBC Three, bbc.co.uk/sport, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Red Button and BBC Mobile
