Dave JOHNSON

Dave Johnson was a decathlete who competed at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, winning a bronze medal in 1992. He competed in college at Azusa Pacific College, placing second in 1985 at the NAIA Meet. He won the TAC Championships in 1986 and again in 1989, when his mark of 8,594 points gave him a titular American record because of new javelin specifications, although it was below Bruce Jenner’s 1976 Olympic gold medal mark of 8,634. In 1990 Johnson won the TAC Meet again, but then finished second to Dan O’Brien at the 1991 TAC Meet.

In 1992 Johnson and O’Brien became well-known for a series of Reebok commercials promoting “Dan and Dave” as they endeavoured to win gold at Barcelona. The promotion came to a rocky end when O’Brien no-heighted in the pole vault at the 1992 Olympic Trials, but Johnson made the team and won his bronze medal.

Johnson continued to compete after Barcelona, winning the Mt. Sac Relays in 1994 and 1995. At the 1996 Olympic Trials, he placed sixth in his final competitive decathlon. He was later athletic director at Corban University in Salem, Oregon, but then accepted a position with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2013, and worked as a volunteer coach at local high schools and colleges.