Ben Johnson and the 100m

The [tag]Seoul Olympics[/tag] in the summer of 1988 will mostly be remember for one person – [tag]Ben Johnson[/tag]. Yes, the man who won the gold medal in the 100 metre dash finals, broke the [tag]Olympic[/tag] record, beat his bitter rival [tag]Carl Lewis[/tag], and later was tested positive for drugs, and three days later stripped of his medal and record.

Most of us don’t follow athletics these days, I doubt many would even know who holds the current world record, but in 1988, everyone knew. We were in school, and with nothing else to do except watch the one decent TV channel, we followed the Olympics daily.

Ben Johnson had earlier broken the world record at the World Championships at 9.83seconds, and everyone was watching the showdown between Ben Johnson, the Jamaican turned Canadian, against Carl Lewis. Carl Lewis was the always the all-American hero who had won 4 gold medals in the previous Olympics in Los Angeles.

I remember seeing Ben Johnson at the semifinals – he looked buff with muscles, something uncommon for sprinters.

In the final, Ben Johnson won the gold with a new world record of 9.79s,Carl Lewis come in second at 9.92s. I remember the scene vividly, it was replayed countless times that day and the days following that. Johnson surged ahead in the second half of the race, towards the end, the turned to his left to see Lewis behind him, raised his right hand in victory, and slowed a little towards the finishing line.

Three days later, everything was turned upside down when he tested positive for [tag]stanozolol[/tag]. Lewis was awarded the gold, and the whole drug scandal started to unravel.

That was 20 years ago. In the interim, many sprinters have come and gone, whittling down the world record one hundredth of a second at a time. Later this month, [tag]Usain Bolt[/tag] will defend his world record of 9.72s against [tag]Tyson Gay[/tag] from the US, but even their recent rivalry is nothing compared to that great race in Seoul.