<p>Tyree Washington won the world indoor and outdoor titles over 400m in 2003. Here the US sprinter talks about the difficulties he has endured throughout his life battling asthma.</p>
<h3>Battling asthma: 'My doctors always joked and said they couldn&rsquo;t understand how I had such bad asthma and yet I could run one of the hardest events on the planet'</h3>
<p>&ldquo;Many people don&rsquo;t know that I have suffered from asthma for my whole life. I almost died from it on numerous occasions. As a baby the doctors told my grandmother, who raised me, I had 72 hours to live. My family was very spiritual and I made it through.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I was aged 14 or 15, I suffered smog inhalation in my home city of Riverside, California. My mother rushed me to hospital and I was taken to ER. My lungs were literally collapsing and everything was shutting down on me. For a while, I didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to make it. Thankfully, I improved, but I remember when I left the hospital bed for a couple of weeks I couldn&rsquo;t walk. It was very humbling. &nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;My asthma has been a constant battle through the years because my breathing capacity is at only 75 per cent. My doctor helped me maintain my asthma and I am just grateful I made it and excelled on the track. My doctors always joked and said they couldn&rsquo;t understand how I had such bad asthma and yet I could run one of the hardest events on the planet. Both scientifically and medically they couldn&rsquo;t explain it. I wasn&rsquo;t supposed to win World Championships and become the fastest man in the world during my time in the 400m.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My asthma made every year of my career very unpredictable. I often had to change my routines because the stresses of being involved in a high intensity sport like track and field would causes my asthma to flare up. I remember racing in Osaka in 1998 and enduring an asthma attack during the race. I wanted to stop at 200m and was telling myself to stop after the next 50 metres. Then I got to 300m and thought, &lsquo;screw it, I&rsquo;m going to finish the full race&rsquo;. That race I ran 45.14 for third and I collapsed after the race. I was very stubborn. I wouldn&rsquo;t go and see a doctor. I just wanted to race.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Another time I couldn&rsquo;t find one of my inhalers at home. I was on my hands and knees trying to find one, there was nobody home and I didn&rsquo;t have my cell phone with me. Thankfully, I found an inhaler at the back of the cupboard. If I hadn&rsquo;t, it would have been lights out for me.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My career was always a constant battle. I guess pollen is my enemy &ndash; like kryptonite.</p>
<p>&ldquo;For a long time when I looked back on my career, I felt really hurt I never made an Olympic team because of injury and illness. But over time, I realised that by winning the world indoor and outdoor titles in 2003 I had beaten all the best athletes in the world that year. Once I started to accept this, I could look back and think that despite my illnesses, I had a glorious and blessed career. I am part of a select group of athletes that have won world titles; my talent for track was a gift from God.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for the IAAF</strong></p>

Tyree Washington won the world indoor and outdoor titles over 400m in 2003. Here the US sprinter talks about the difficulties he has endured throughout his life battling asthma.

My greatest challenge – Tyree Washington

<p>USA&rsquo;s 2003 world outdoor and indoor 400m champion Tyree Washington was one of the most formidable one-lap exponents of his generation. Here he offers his take on his all-time great men&rsquo;s 4x400m team in the latest in our series ahead of the IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2017.</p>
<h3>First leg: Steve Lewis (USA)</h3>
<p><strong>1988 Olympic 400m champion and 1992 Olympic 400m silver medallist</strong></p>
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USA's Steve Lewis in the 4x400m at the 1988 Olympic Games</div>
<p><br />Steve was a very aggressive runner who ran a mean 300m. He won the 1988 Olympic title as a 19-year-old and was phenomenal. He was very strong, ran with no fear and, to be honest, he could have run any of the four legs. But why I chose him for the first leg is because of his aggression and his ability to handle the pressure. In 1988 he showed a lot about his character by defeating two seasoned athletes in Butch Reynolds and Danny Everett to the gold medal. With the first leg of a relay you face a tremendous amount of pressure, so it is important to have a runner who can maintain their composure. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, Steve will take on everybody.</p>
<h3>Second leg: Quincy Watts (USA)</h3>
<p><strong>1992 Olympic 400m champion and member of the USA&rsquo;s world record 4x400m team</strong></p>
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Quincy Watts and Derek Redmond in the 4x400m at the 1991 IAAF World Championships</div>
<p><br />I&rsquo;m going for my former teammate big Quincy Watts to run leg two. Quincy was very fast &ndash; he set an Olympic record 43.50 when winning gold in Barcelona which is not too shabby &ndash; and extremely strong with this nice high-knee style as a quarter-miler. He too also showed his composure to win the 1992 Olympic final.</p>
<p>The second leg runner needs to be very aggressive, particularly as coming off the back straight of the second leg there is a lot of jostling and fighting for position. Quincy is a big boy at about 6ft 4in (1.93m); he&rsquo;s no pushover and would be my choice for the second leg.</p>
<h3>Third leg: Wayde Van Niekerk (RSA)</h3>
<p><strong>World and Olympic 400m champion and world record-holder</strong></p>
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<strong>Wayde van Niekerk in the 4x400m at the IAAF Continental Cup</strong></div>
<p><br />The kid is unbelievable. He has phenomenal foot speed as a sub-20-second 200m sprinter and a sub-10-second 100m sprinter. He also has a strong mentality, a bit like a silent assassin in that he doesn&rsquo;t care who he competes against, he just manages to pick them off. I like his patience in races. He doesn&rsquo;t get caught up with what others are doing and I like that discipline.</p>
<p>The reason why I pick him on third leg is because even if he has a big lead, he&rsquo;s not going to let up. He also destroyed Michael Johnson&rsquo;s world record and I think he can be like Usain Bolt as the next superstar athlete that everyone will look up to.</p>
<h3>Fourth leg: Michael Johnson (USA)</h3>
<p><strong>Two-time Olympic 400m champion, four-time world 400m champion and former world record-holder</strong></p>
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Michael Johnson in the 4x400m at the IAAF World Championships</div>
<p><br />I raced against him for close on eight years and he was a very experienced runner who made few errors. He was also extremely patient with a tremendous amount of turnover. He was always very calculated and very composed.</p>
<p>Another fact about Michael is he got stronger through the rounds when many other athletes decline. He was a very strong finisher and in his prime Michael was very hard to beat. I can&rsquo;t think of anybody better to maintain a lead and then open an even bigger advantage.</p>
<h3>How fast could they run?</h3>
<p>The current world record stands at 2:54.29 and I believe this quartet could run 2:53.20 &ndash; at least a full second faster. There is something about having a baton in the hand, which to many is like having super human powers and knowing you have such quality teammates would take them to another level.</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for the IAAF</strong></p>

USA’s 2003 world outdoor and indoor 400m champion Tyree Washington was one of the most formidable one-lap exponents of his generation. Here he offers his take on his all-time great men’s 4x400m team in the latest in our series ahead of the IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2017.

My greatest challenge – Tyree Washington

My dream relay team – Tyree Washington