Victor Louis JOHNSON

Six of the 16 heats in the one-lap sprint at the 1908 Olympics were won by British riders but only Victor Johnson and Dan Flynn survived the second round and qualified for the final. Johnson took the gold medal and a narrow victory over Émile Demangel of France and the following day Johnson reached the final of the 1,000 metres sprint. The race was declared void, as the riders exceeded the time limit of 1:45 set by the judges but Johnson was already out of contention as he had punctured early in the race.

Victor Johnson, who represented the Birmingham Rover CC, made his track début in 1902 and went on to win a total of six NCU titles, including three in one day in 1911, and 11 days after his Olympic triumph he won the world amateur sprint championship in Leipzig. In one season alone, 1907, Johnson won a staggering 29 races. He also set three world and numerous British records and his best performance against the watch was a time of 28.0 seconds for the quarter-mile, standing start (unpaced) at Herne Hill in 1909. This remained a world record for 21 years until it was superseded by a slower time when the international regulations changed. His 2:03.4 for the one-mile, standing start (unpaced) at Crystal Palace in 1907 also stood as a record for 22 years. Johnson, who worked as a carpenter and joiner, thus enjoyed a racing career, until his retirement in 1922, that was in keeping with the family tradition. His father, Jack, a bicycle maker, had set the earliest recognized one hour revord of 13 miles 600 yards on a penny farthing at Birmingham in 1870 and also made the first unicycles to be seen in Britain.