 By now well-known figures even outside of sporting bounds, both Johnson and Bailey as well as their upcoming showdown featured prominently in their countries' respective media year-end best-of lists.Predictably, American media celebrated Johnson with the US-based news agency Associated Press voting his Olympic double gold the top story of 1996, while Canadian media extolled Bailey with the country's 126 newspaper editors and broadcast news directors taking part in a vote for the top newsmaker of 1996, and choosing Bailey ahead of Chief of Defence Staff Jean Boyle who resigned in the middle of Somalia Affair and Ontario premier Mike Harris.Johnson won the Associated Press' Athlete of the Year award, US Olympic Committee's sportsman-of-the-year award, but notably lost to Tiger Woods for the "Sports Illustrated"'s Sportsman of the Year award, which made Johnson publicly lash out at US Track & Field executive director Ollan Cassell for "lack of marketing acumen to promote the sport of track and field".