Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson has spoken publicly for the first time since Grand Slam Track went bankrupt, and has clarified details of payments to himself and competing athletes.
Contracted runners were promised lucrative prize money and salaries in the competition’s inaugural season last year, but the final event in Los Angeles was cancelled and organisers voluntarily filed for bankruptcy in the US in December 2025.
Several high-profile athletes were owed payments over £100,000, including British former world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and 2024 Olympic 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith.
In an interview with the Telegraph, external published on Saturday, Johnson said he has now “got the athletes paid”, after a “catastrophic capital issue” was caused by investors pulling out.
The Association of Athletics Managers, which represents a number of competitors, said in January that GST had debts of more than $30m (£22.5m).
In March 2026, a legal filing by GST’s creditors accused Johnson of “secretly” paying himself $500,000 (£375,000) days before the season collapsed, a claim a GST representative said at the time was “unfounded and false”.
“I’m happy to clear it up, because it’s the most hurtful thing and the exact opposite of what was reported,” Johnson told The Telegraph.
“Our credit card was full at Grand Slam Track, because we were facing significant cash-flow issues.
“We had 96 athletes, plus companions, whom we needed to fly to Miami and Philadelphia. We had 170 people to house in hotels in both cities, and the credit card had no room left.
“I instructed our travel team to put it on my credit card, and I would be reimbursed for it. So, what I received was reimbursement.
“I also loaned the company $2m to make sure we took care of the athletes. I decided to forgo my own salary.”
Johnson said in March he would repay the $500,000 GST.
“I definitely had nights where I didn’t sleep, where I would be awake thinking: ‘This is on me. This headline just came out – do the athletes believe that?’,” Johnson said.
“Those things weighed on me very heavily, and on my family as well. I was asking myself: ‘Are you stupid? Why did you do this? This is not what you need.’
“That was the most difficult part of this. Questioning my motivation for doing this, questioning my integrity, questioning my character.”
Johnson has been a pundit and commentator for the BBC since 2001 but has not worked for the broadcaster since the Paris 2024 Olympics as he focused his attention on GST.
