How the dark shadow of Steroids in the Olympics widened
March 10, 2007
From weightlifters in the early days, steroids moved onto the track, precipitating in the greatest steroid scandal in Olympic and perhaps sporting history
High Profile Scandal
There have been many high profile examples of steroid use in the Olympics and steroid bans. The greatest scandal involved the most glamorous of Olympic events, and two of track and field's biggest names. It resulted in the strip of a gold medal as well as the erasure of a world record time and of course the inevitable ban, revealing that an athlete was on steroids at the time of one of the most remarkable Olympic achievements of all time:
Barcelona 1988: In probably the highest profile Olympic event of all, and certainly the most high profile event in the Olympics’ highest profile competition of track and field, Ben Johnson beat out Carl Lewis in the Mens 100 Meter sprint final and set a world record of 9.79 seconds, capping a bitter rivalry that bad been building openly between Lewis, one of the most dominating Olympic athletes ever, and his new bad boy rival Johnson. Looking more like a football fullback than a lithe sinewy Olympic sprinter (such as Lewis), Johnson barreled his way to a world record time that would not be matched after for almost twenty years, achieving a time that defied imagination.
Johnson certainly seemed ahead of the evolutionary curve, beating Lewis, who in the same race recorded what was regarded at that moment to be the “second” fastest M time ever, of 9.83. Unbelievably, Johnson had ostensibly shaved over a tenth of a second off the previous world record time of 9.93.
The world was stunned and enervated by the epic race, as well as the physical perfection of the balance between strength and speed exuded by Johnson’s muscular physique. But alas, Johnson indeed proved too good (or to bad) to be true by all counts, as this BBC story recalls:
“Sprinter Ben Johnson has been sent home from the Seoul Olympic Games in disgrace. The Canadian has also been stripped of his M gold medal after testing positive for drugs. Johnson has just arrived home in Toronto and has said he will appeal against the International Olympics Committee's verdict. But the IOC has already said the athlete's intended defence - that a herbal drink he consumed before the race had been spiked - will not be accepted.
"Samples of Johnson's urine were tested for drugs immediately after the M final three days ago which he won in a world record time of 9.79 seconds. And Olympic officials confirmed last night that traces of the anabolic steroid, Stanozol, had been detected.”
For anyone who was not aware of steroids, or didn’t believe it was a serious problem, the Ben Johnson scandal now made that point undeniable. The story had passed from sports new into front page news, and now even young childern, housewives, politicians and all other prototypes of non-sports fans in around the globe knew that the Olympics were tainted by steroids.
On the international stage, in the most highly anticipated race of the Olympics, two highly charismatic arch-rivals, who openly disliked each other and belittled each other in the press, pushed each other to greater heights than either had ever been to and anyone had ever seen. The race was the Olympic equivalent of Ali-Fraser, but it turned out the "Fraser" figure was cheating. Ben Johnson wasn’t clean, his world record time was erased from the books and he was stripped of the gold medal.
The possession of both fell by default to Carl Lewis, who had been an outspoken critic of steroid users and what he perceived to be the leniency of steroid punishment, an outspoken stance he maintained throughout his career. However, the worst cynics still wonder if he wasn’t up there at the forefront of designer steroid use himself, and was just smooth enough never to get caught, in light of the many times on camera when he appeared to have a disproportionate case of acne.
NEXT UP: How steroid allegations clouded the career of America's next great track athlete, and permanently marred the integrity of one the traditional powerhouses of the Olympics: the US Track and Field Team.
