There is a particular quirk of athletics that has long puzzled Michael Johnson. Why, in a sport where milliseconds decide medals, must runners attach a piece of paper to their singlet with safety pins to display their name?. 'I have asked around to try to figure out why that is still the case and I have not got a good, solid answer,' the American legend tells Mail Sport. 'It's pretty unbelievable.'.
![[The American is looking to use Grand Slam Track to put his sport on a par with tennis and golf]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/11/93555961-14233595-image-a-13_1735471639566.jpg)
When it came to launching his own revolutionary track league, then, Johnson had a simple two-word starting point. 'No bibs,' says the 57-year-old. 'You're not going to see paper and safety pins, I can guarantee you that. 'We've got the fastest people in the world. We think that it's important that they look like the fastest people in the world, as opposed to the antithesis of fast. Some elements of the sport are stuck in the past.'.
![[The BBC Sport pundit's league will see four three-day events held between April and June]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/11/93555957-14233595-image-a-14_1735471665885.jpg)
Grand Slam Track, Johnson believes, is the future. The man with the golden shoes at Atlanta 1996 has never been afraid to break convention to boost his and athletics' profile. But he thinks he has now come up with a concept to take track to a whole new level – and put it on a par with sports such as tennis and golf.
![[Britain's Olympic silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith is among those to have signed up]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/11/93556001-14233595-image-a-15_1735471724584.jpg)
Johnson's league will see four three-day events take place between April and June next year, starting in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, before moving to the US cities of Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Athletes must run both of the two distances in their 'category' at each meet, with 48 stars contracted as 'racers' to compete on all four weekends, and others to be signed as 'challengers' for one or two.
![[Josh Kerr will also take part - athletes must run two distances in their 'category' at each meet]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/11/93556003-14233595-image-a-16_1735471727228.jpg)
