Date 23 & 24 September | ||
The Men's 100 Meters at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea – frequently dubbed "the dirtiest race in history" – ended in controversy after Canada's Ben Johnson defeated defending champion Carl Lewis from the United States with a world record time of 9.79s, topping his own record of 9.83s that he set at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome. Two days later, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when his post-race drug test indicated steroid use. His record time of 9.79 seconds was also erased. The gold medal for the 100 meters was awarded to Lewis, who ran 9.92s. Later, the world record Johnson held prior to the Olympics was also rescinded and Lewis' time in this race became the official world record, breaking the 9.93 mark that Calvin Smith set in 1983 and Lewis had tied twice since. Smith had participated in this race as well and finished fourth, but was elevated to third place and given the bronze medal behind Lewis and Linford Christie of the United Kingdom, the original bronze medal winner that moved up to silver. The other participants in this race, in order of finish, were Dennis Mitchell of the United States, who would go on to win the bronze medal in this event in Barcelona; Robson da Silva of Brazil, who won the bronze in the 200 meters in Seoul; Johnson's teammate Desai Williams, a bronze medalist in the 4 x 100 meter relay in Los Angeles four years earlier; and Ray Stewart of Jamaica, who won a silver medal in the same relay at the Los Angeles Olympics.
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It would take another eleven years for a runner to run a clean 9.79 in the 100 meters, a feat Maurice Greene accomplished at the world championships in Athens in 1999.
Aftermath
Johnson was not the only participant whose success was questioned. Lewis had tested positive at the US Olympic Trials for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine, medications available at the time in common cold remedies, but the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) cleared Lewis to participate at the games in Seoul. Christie was found to have metabolites of pseudoephedrine in his urine after a 200m heat at the same Olympics but was later cleared of any wrongdoing. Dennis Mitchell tested positive ten years later. Of the top five competitors in the race, only former world record holder and eventual bronze medalist Smith never failed a drug test during his career. Smith later said: "I should have been the gold medalist." Johnson had demanded that Lewis be stripped of his gold medal, but the IOC had no intention of redressing the issue, stating they operate under a three-year statute of limitations.
In the ESPN documentary 9.79*, eventual silver medallist Christie states, and footage of the race shows, that Lewis "ran out of his lane... two or three times" during the race, which could have resulted in Lewis' disqualification had he impeded other competitors. The numerous athletes using performance-enhancing drugs at the time understood how long before a race, and possible drug test, they should stop using the drugs. Johnson has stated that André Jackson, a mutual friend of Johnson and Lewis, entered the drug testing area in Seoul to deposit stanozolol in the beer Johnson consumed to produce a urine sample.
The CBC radio documentary, Rewind, "Ben Johnson: A Hero Disgraced" broadcast on September 19, 2013, for the 25th anniversary of the race, stated 20 athletes tested positive for drugs but were cleared by the IOC at this 1988 Seoul Olympics, and an IOC official stated that endocrine profiles done at those games indicated that 80 percent of the track and field athletes tested showed evidence of long-term steroid use although not all were banned.
In addition, CBC Radio was told by its sources that NBC had threatened to withhold its second rights payment to the IOC due on completion of the 1988 Seoul Olympics games stating, "if these games collapse in scandal, we're out and that money's gone".
Records
These were the then-recognized world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.
1 Johnson's world record was rescinded by the IAAF Council in September 1989 after he admitted to using steroids between 1981 and 1988. Carl Lewis was credited with a new Olympic record upon being awarded the gold medal after Johnson's failed steroid test, and his time of 9.92 was also recognized as the new world record after Johnson's time was rescinded.