The four-time Olympic gold medal-winning American sprinter joined Bridgestone Retail Operations (BSRO) during the company’s 2016 National Business Conference in Houston where the new programme was launched. 

Through a series of appearances, educational videos and other training tools, Johnson will share the lessons he’s learned on the track and look to use his world-renowned coaching techniques in a bid to empower and challenge more than 23,000 BSRO employees at the company’s 2,200-plus tyre and automotive service centres in the United States.

"I’m thrilled to partner with Bridgestone and look forward to using the Olympic Games as a great motivator with its retail teammates this year,” said Johnson, the 400 metres world record holder.

"There are so many parallels between sports and business, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned over the years about motivation, teamwork, goal-setting and perseverance with the Bridgestone team.

"It’s going to be a lot of fun, and hard work, too."

As part of the initiative, Johnson will undertake an Olympic-themed sales incentive programme, a mobile training tour, and a trip to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Training Center in Colorado Springs for BSRO's top performers.

Later this year, Bridgestone will endeavour to bring its new Olympic partnership to life through a broader consumer-facing retail marketing campaign complete with in-store, mobile activations and promotions.

"Bridgestone’s people and products demonstrate our company’s passion for performance every day," said Stu Crum, President of BSRO.

"In our stores, we are driven to perform, just like the elite athletes who are training for the Olympic Games, so who better to inspire our team than Michael Johnson, an elite athlete and coach who’s literally brought home the gold.

"We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Michael to the Bridgestone family and to have the opportunity to learn from one of the best."

Bridgestone announced in June 2014 that it had become an official member of The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme.

Bridgestone joined Coca Cola, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonald's, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung and Visa as a TOP sponsor, while Toyota became the 12th in March of last year. 

The 10-year agreement sees Bridgestone serve as a partner of the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, and the 2024 Olympic Games.

"Joining the Olympic Movement as one of just 12 Worldwide Olympic Partners provides an incredible opportunity to grow our business in a way that no competitor can," added Crum. 

"The training programme with Michael is just one exciting way we’ll be leveraging our Olympic partnership to ignite pride and performance among our team-mates at the retail level."

One of BSRO’s long-term strategic goals is to become the most trusted provider of automotive service in every neighbourhood the company serves.