Five times Olympics champion Michael Johnson brought the curtain down on a glittering career today by anchoring his team to victory in a special relay race.
The 34-year-old world 200 and 400 metres record holder stormed past Japanese Jun Osakada in the back straight on the final leg of the rarely run "Swedish relay" in Yokohama, Japan.
Namibian Frankie Fredericks, who won the world 200 metres title in Stuttgart eight years ago when Johnson opted to run the 400, ran the first leg of 100 metres.
He passed the baton to Terrence Trammell, who covered 200 metres followed by fellow-American Shawn Crawford who ran 300 metres before Johnson ran a complete lap.
After securing victory in one minute 47.93 seconds, Johnson was driven around the track in a yellow Alfa Romeo sportscar and, after taking the plaudits from the crowd of 45,458, threw his spikes to a group of Japanese schoolchildren.
"Even though it was my last race, I still had a job to do. We were losing, so I had to execute a strategy for my 400 metres," said Johnson. "I was just doing what I've always done."
Johnson, who has won an unprecedented nine world titles, said he would not be tempted out of retirement.
"I'm finished. I haven't given anyone any reason to doubt that," he said. "That's what I'm saying and that's what I'm doing."