U.S. MEN'S AOY
Michael Replaces Maurice

In a close battle between sprint superstars, the World Record holder in the 400, Michael Johnson, edged the WR holder in the 100, Maurice Greene, for the title of top U.S. man of the Olympic year. Greene had won the '99 honor over MJ. For Johnson, it's the sixth U.S. No. 1 of his illustrious career, leaving him behind only legendary Carl Lewis in that category.

In a distant galaxy, far, far away, some future historian is going to look at the World Rankings in the 400 and wonder how the heck a No. 5 slipped into Johnson's record in '92, what with it being preceded by a pair of No. 1s and followed by 8 more at the top. (The answer, of course, is that he concentrated on the 200 in that ill-fated campaign.)

Maybe next year we won't find MJ atop the 1-lap charts, but don't bet on it just yet. As he has done so many times before, the Baylor alum went undefeated and won the year's major meet and was a no-brainer choice for preeminence. He broke the 44-second barrier (the only one to do so) for the ninth straight year, and he did it three times.

The tight balloting for top U.S. honors:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	%
1. Michael Johnson	18	10	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	278	95.9%
2. Maurice Greene	11	17	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	271	93.4%
3. Angelo Taylor	-	2	26	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	233	80.3%
4. Adam Nelson	-	-	1	15	11	1	-	-	1	-	186	64.1%
5. Nick Hysong	-	-	-	10	8	5	3	1	2	-	162	55.9%
6. Alvin Harrison	-	-	-	2	4	11	8	2	1	-	133	45.9%
7. Allen Johnson	-	-	-	-	3	7	5	5	3	1	95	32.8%
8. Chris Huffins	-	-	-	-	-	2	4	6	3	3	53	18.3%
9. Terrence Trammell	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	6	7	5	49	16.9%
10. Khalid Khannouchi	-	-	-	1	2	2	1	2	1	3	44	15.2%
11. Jeff Hartwig 31; 12. Andy Bloom 27; 13. John Godina 14; 14. Lawrence Johnson 11; 15. Mark Crear 8.