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Michael Johnson has explained why he chose to return one of his five gold medals(Image: (Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for Angel City Sports))

Legendary Olympic athlete Michael Johnson has revealed why he opted to a return his final gold medal.

The American was an expert sprinter which saw him win a total of five gold medals during a historic career.

Johnson captured gold in three consecutive Olympic Games, triumphing in the 4x400metre relay at Barcelona 1992, winning both the 200 and 400 metres at Atlanta 1996 and then retaining the latter at Sydney 2000 while also reclaiming the 4x400metre relay crown.

The final victory became shrouded in controversy well over a decade later, however, when his team-mate Antonio Pettigrew admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.

As a result, Johnson returned the final of his five gold medals with the 58-year-old now explaining how it feels to be called a four-time gold medallist and why he did it.

“I’m use to it now,” he admitted to Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast.

“If you think about it, I won the fifth of my five gold medals in Sydney 4x400m relay. I retired a five-time gold medallist.

I think i’m going to be that for the rest of my life because I’m not going to win anymore as I’m retired.

“Never thought I would end up going backwards.

That thought never even entered my mind so it was seven years later that Antonio Pettigrew, who had also retired, admitted in a grand jury investigation into the BALCO drugs scandal that he had been cheating and using performance enhancing drugs during that time.

“He never tested positive which tells you just how intricate that process where people were cheating but never got caught.

“Had he not admitted no one would have ever known.

When he admitted to it, I was very disappointed as I was associated with that relay as one of the four team members.

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Michael Johnson claimed it wasn’t a hard decision(Image: (Photo by JC Olivera/Sportico via Getty Images))

“I was really upset because with all due respect Jake, we could have won that relay with you, we didn’t need Antonio.

We were so far ahead we could have had anyone on there.

“I have always been outspoken about doping in our sport still am and so just didn’t want to have my name associated with that medal so I gave it back.

“It wasn’t a hard decision. I knew it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want anything to do with that.

A little bit harder in the sense that I knew they were going to come after that medal and the US Olympic committee were going to fight it.

They would have had a better chance fighting it if I was there.

“When I chose not to, it meant the other two team members were probably not going to have a good chance but it was not that hard for me.

I was very angry for a while because I’m now a four-time Olympic gold medallist not five-time and through no fault of my own.

“I didn’t know Antonio Pettigrew that well, we were competitors first.

He was for many years the No.1 ranked 400-metre runner. Me and him were battling. He was world champion in 1991, so we were always competing.

I thought I knew him well enough so I was surprised and angry about that.

“And it got sadder because he ended up taking his own life.

It is one of those things where doping in our sport is something that is always talked about.

“I think our sport does a much better job than most at policing and anti-doping but our sport is more susceptible to it because there is such a low barrier to get into it and it’s worth it to a lot of people who grow up in situations where they don’t have much and this could be their ticket out.

“I think people often think it is easy to go and make that choice and I think his whole situation proves it is not that easy and it’s ended up devastating an entire family.”