Ben Johnson Winning and Losing Olympic Gold

[00:00:00] On September 24, 1988, one of the biggest races in Olympic history happened during the 100 meter dash.

[00:00:09] When Ben Johnson faced off against Carl Lewis to see who would be the fastest man in the world.

[00:00:15] And Ben Johnson, and then astounding 9.79 seconds, sending the world record becoming the fastest man alive.

[00:00:23] And within days, would be stripped of his gold medal and be banned from competition.

[00:00:28] His story behind how all this happened today on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:38] Welcome to Daily Sports History, I'm Ethan Reese, your Daily Guide, helping you learn more about

[00:00:44] sports history as you expand your sports knowledge.

[00:00:48] In today's trivia question is when was the first time Ben Johnson became the fastest man alive?

[00:00:57] No, the world had been keeping track of the fastest man alive since 1891 when Luther Kerry

[00:01:05] had the record at 10.8 seconds. That was the first unofficial record.

[00:01:11] But then we had the IAAF, the International Amateur Athletic of Federation,

[00:01:16] start keeping records in 1912. And it wasn't till 1968 when someone finally broke the 10 second

[00:01:25] barrier in Jim Hayes from the United States running 9.98 seconds. And before Ben Johnson started to

[00:01:34] race, the record for the fastest time was 9.93 seconds. In 1983, so in almost 100 years they dropped the

[00:01:46] record by less than one second. So the 100 meter dash, that point won is important. And within

[00:01:53] five years Ben Johnson would break that record by point one five a huge margin but it would not stand.

[00:02:03] Let's find out the reason why Ben Johnson was actually born in Jamaica and his family

[00:02:07] immigrated to Canada in 1976 where he came with his mom. But his dad stayed in Jamaica to try to

[00:02:14] continue working and Johnson would go on to join Coach Charlie Francis who actually was a

[00:02:19] sprinter himself, admitted to the 1972 Munich Olympics and saw that Johnson had great potential.

[00:02:26] As he won two silver medals in the 1982 Commonwealth Games with the time of 10.05 seconds.

[00:02:33] It would actually qualify for the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles where he made the finals

[00:02:38] and after a fall start he went on to win bronze behind Carl Lewis and Sam greedy with the time of

[00:02:45] 10.22. It would also win bronze that year part of the Canadians for by 100 meter relay.

[00:02:52] So by this point, he had made his way to be coming one of the top runners in the world

[00:02:58] and started the rivalry with running great Carl Lewis. They would always go back and forth

[00:03:04] between this time and the 1988 Olympics who was the fastest person. They were trade off

[00:03:11] throughout this time and Ben kept fighting to be the best because this was a lucrative thing

[00:03:16] being the fastest man alive made you got endorsements in your celebrity. So he was making money

[00:03:22] for his family who were immigrants in the country. His mom had for everything and he wanted to fight

[00:03:27] to give her everything back. So it erased and Rome Italy bended a new record of 9.83 seconds.

[00:03:37] A point one second difference than the world record had previously been set. That is a huge jump

[00:03:44] but made him officially the fastest man alive. But it wouldn't be smooth sailing in 1998

[00:03:50] in February he pulled a hamstring and then he aggravated that hamstring just as the Olympics were

[00:03:57] with injuries and everything going on. He had so much pressure with the Olympics coming up

[00:04:02] as in the year before he was going to do whatever he could to make it to the Olympics and win

[00:04:07] and on September 24th, 1988 was the 100 meter final at the sole Olympics. Everyone had their eyes

[00:04:15] on Johnson and Carl Lewis to see who would win the cold despite Johnson being the world record holder.

[00:04:21] Carl Lewis had won the World Championship the year before and Johnson was still coming back from

[00:04:26] his hands stream injuries in the gun sounds and they take off. And Johnson starts to break away from

[00:04:32] the pack by a large margin by 100 meter dash standards. And Johnson holds his hands out as he crosses

[00:04:39] the finish line with a astonishing time of 9.79 seconds, a new world record beating Carl Lewis

[00:04:48] who ran 9.92 and only four racers that day ran under 10 seconds. Johnson was on top of the

[00:04:58] world just wanted gold medal set the world record but after this we found out that Johnson had

[00:05:04] a positive for steroids and within just three days after the race he was disqualified and all his

[00:05:10] subsequent records were removed. And Carl Lewis was given the gold medal and the new world record

[00:05:17] as it was previously 9.93 and Carl Lewis ran 9.92 giving him the new world record as all

[00:05:27] of Ben Johnson's records were now disqualified and Canada would ban him from participating

[00:05:32] for the national team. Now at this time, steroids was a big problem in track and field.

[00:05:38] In this 100 meter final is known also as the dirtiest race in history as six of the eight runners

[00:05:46] would at some point test positive for steroids in their career. And Ben himself would say

[00:05:51] it was something you had to do with the time. Everyone was taking steroids. If you wanted to

[00:06:02] in 2018 an investigative reporter actually dug into what actually happened with this and there was

[00:06:08] a lot of inconsistencies in the dopering report that got Ben Johnson disqualified as no Canadian

[00:06:14] official or Ben Johnson was ever given the report which had things marked out, things written in

[00:06:20] all things that should not be part of a official drug test for the IOC but they were.

[00:06:28] Which they raised his suspicion about the conspiracy but Ben Johnson owned up to taking steroids

[00:06:34] as that's what people did at the time. So within a span of a few days he was a hero in the world

[00:06:41] in Canada and now he was banned from competition after his suspension was lifted by the IOC in 1991.

[00:06:49] He actually attempted to come back and he failed to qualify for the 1991 World Championships.

[00:06:53] But he was able to make the Olympic team again but missed the 100 meter final at the 1992

[00:06:59] and finished last in the semi-final heat after stumbling out of the blocks. Johnson would then

[00:07:05] go transition out of running and become a trainer and make public appearances for charities

[00:07:10] throughout Canada as he still figurehead in Canada despite his disqualifications. In 2010 he

[00:07:17] released an autobiography entitled Soul to Soul and was a part of a new book that came out in 2018

[00:07:24] about all that happened about how he was disqualified and how his drug testing was a little off.

[00:07:30] Called Ben Lewis the fastest man alive. And it just give you some perspective on how fast it was

[00:07:36] that he ran in 1988 at 9.7-9 seconds which he says he could have ran faster if he didn't hold

[00:07:43] his arms out at the end. That time was not seen again until 11 years later when more

[00:07:49] re-screen of United States ran 9.79 and it wasn't beaten until 2002 by Tim Montgomery who also

[00:07:59] tested positive for steroids. So his time was avoided and the first official time that was given

[00:08:06] wasn't until 2005 was the first person that officially beat Ben Lewis' time in a stuff of

[00:08:14] pal who ran 9.78 seconds. Who held the record until you say bolt took over in 2008 and the current

[00:08:22] record is at 9.58 which seems like an incredibly fast time and the sport has become cleaner

[00:08:31] throughout the years but there's still athletes testing positive for steroids as there are so many

[00:08:37] options out there and so many things that these athletes take to try to get an edge to try to

[00:08:43] become that fastest man alive because it means endorsements. It means fame. It means everything

[00:08:48] as a runner especially a sprinter to be named the fastest man alive and Ben Johnson wanted the

[00:08:54] fame he wanted the money and he wanted to be the fastest man alive. And he was for three days and if you

[00:09:01] want to hear more about track and field I encourage you to listen to on the track and field where

[00:09:07] coach Ayers talks to great athletes as well as dives into the history of track and field. He's got a

[00:09:13] great episode with Professor Dave Lute who goes through the crown games of Ancient Greece to learn

[00:09:19] how there was even more than just the Olympics. To great listen I encourage you to check out this

[00:09:25] if you like track and field at all we'll put a link in the description for you to check it out.

[00:09:31] And if you like this episode please let us know you can reach out to us on our social media

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[00:09:46] how much you love the show and come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. In the

[00:09:53] answer today's trivia question when was the first time Ben Johnson became the fastest man alive.

[00:10:02] In 1987 Ben Johnson became the fastest man alive running 9.83 seconds,

[00:10:08] beating the previous record by point one seconds.