Michael Johnson

Beijing: A top Chinese official on Tuesday rubbished rumours that American sprint star Michael Johnson will coach their athletes for the forthcoming Athens Olympics.

China will not hire a foreign coach in the near future, deputy director of the Chinese Athletics Management Centre (CAMC), Feng Shuyong, said.

Reports in local newspapers had said that multi-Olympic medallist Johnson will be the first foreign track and field coach to help the Chinese national team prepare for Athens.

“I don’t know where these kinds of reports came from,” Feng said. “I never said we would have a foreign coach.”

But another CAMC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Johnson, who holds men’s 200 and 400m world records, would conduct two clinics for Chinese athletes under a programme sponsored by sports goods manufacture giant Nike.

“He is more likely to conduct a few clinics for us instead of taking a coaching role,” the official said.

“I don’t think he is coming before the Athens Olympics. The teaching programme may be held after the Olympics.”

China won only one gold from track and field in the Sydney Olympics four years ago, in women’s 20km walking.

China’s medal hopefuls in Athens are men’s 110m hurdler Liu Xiang, bronze medallist in last year’s world championships in Paris and women’s long distance runner Sun Yingjie, who won the 5,000m bronze in Paris.