Ben Johnson Winning and Losing Olympic Gold

On September twenty fourth, nineteen eighty eight, one of the biggest races in Olympic history happened during the one hundred meter dash when Ben Johnson faced off against Carl Lewis to see who would be the fastest man in the world, and Ben Johnson an astounding nine point seven nine seconds, setting the world record, becoming the fastest man alive, and within days would be stripped of his gold medal and be banned from competition. Here's a story behind how all this happened. Today on Daily Sports History, Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your daily guide, helping you learn more about sports history as you expand your sports knowledge. In today's trivia question is when was the first time Ben Johnson became the fastest man alive? Now, the world has been keeping track of the fastest man alives since eighteen ninety one, when Luther Carey had the record at ten point eight seconds. That was the first unofficial record, but then we had the IAAF, the International Amateur Athletic Federation started keeping records in nineteen twelve, and it wasn't until nineteen sixty eight when someone finally broke the ten second barrier and Jim Hayes from the United States running nine point nine eight seconds, and before Ben Johnson started to race, the record for the fastest time was nine point nine three seconds nineteen eighty three, so in almost one hundred years they dropped the record by less than one second. So the one hundred meters dash that point one is important and within five years Ben Johnson would break that record by point one five huge margin, but it would not stand. Let's find out the reason why. Ben Johnson was actually born in Jamaica and his family immigrated to Canada in nineteen seventy six, where he came with his mom, but his dad stayed in Jamaica to try to continue working, and Johnson would go on to join coach Charlie Francis, who actually was a sprinter himself and made it to the nineteen seventy two Munich Olympics and saw that Johnson had great potential as he won two silver medals in the nineteen eighty two Commonwealth Games with a time of ten point zero five seconds and would actually qualify for the nineteen eighty four Olympics held in Los Angeles, where he made the finals and after a false start. He went on to win bronze behind Carl Lewis and Sam Grady with a time of ten point twenty two. It would also win bronze that year part of the Canadians four by one hundred meter relay, So by this point he had made his way to be becoming one of the top runners in the world and started the rival with running great Carl Lewis. They would always go back and forth between this time and the nineteen eighty eight Olympics who was the fastest person. They would trade off throughout this time, and Ben kept fighting to be the best because this was a lucrative thing. Being the fastest man alive made you got endorsements and you were a celebrity. So he was making money for his family, who were immigrants in the country. His mom had fired for everything and he wanted to fight to give her everything back. So it a race in Rome, Italy, Ben set a new record of nine point eight three seconds, a point one second difference than the world record had previously been set. That is a huge jump but made him officially the fastest man alive. But it wouldn't be smooth sailing. In nineteen ninety eight, in February he pulled a hamstring and in May he aggravated that hamstring just as the Olympics were coming up. So with injuries and everything going on, he had so much much pressure with the Olympics coming up, as in the year before, he was gonna do whatever he could to make it to the Olympics and win. And on September twenty fourth, nineteen eighty eight, was the one hundred meter final at the Sole Olympics. Everyone had their eyes on Johnson and Carl Lewis to see who would win the gold despite Johnson being the world record holder, Carl Lewis had won the world championship the year four, and Johnson was still coming back from his handstreaming injuries. And the gun sounds and they take off and Johnson starts to break away from the pack by a large margin by one hundred meters dash standards, and Johnson holds his hands out as he crosses the finish line with an astonishing time of nine point seven nine seconds, a new world record, beating Carl Lewis, who ran nine point nine to two, and only four racers that day ran under ten seconds. Johnson was on top of the world, just won a gold medal set the world record. But after this we found out that Johnson had tested positive for steroids, and within just three days after the race, he was disqualified and all his subsequent records were removed and Carl Lewis was given the gold medal and the new world record as it was previously nine point nine three, and Carl Lewis ran nine point ninety two, giving him the new world record, as all of Ben Johnson's records were now disqualified and Canada would ban him from participating for the national team. Now, at this time, steroids was a big problem in track and field, and this one hundred meter final is known also as the dirtiest race in history, as six of the eight runners would at some point test positive for steroids in their career, and Ben himself would say it was something you had to do. At the time, everyone was taking the steroids and if you wanted to remain on the same plane as them, you had to do the same thing. And later in twenty eighteen, an investigative reporter actually dug into what actually happened with this, and there was a lot of inconsistencies in the dopering report that got Ben Johnson disqualified as no Canadian official or Ben Johnson was ever given the report, which had things marked out, things written in all things that should not be part of an official drug test for the IOC, but they were, which they raised his suspicion about the conspiracy, but Ben Johnson owned up to taking steroids as that's what people did at the time. So within a span of a few days he was a hero in the world in Canada and now he was banned from competition, and after his suspension was lifted by the IOC in nineteen ninety one, he actually attempted to come back, but he failed to qualify for the nineteen ninety one World Championships, but he was able to make the Olympic team again, but missed the one hundred meters final at in nineteen ninety two, fish last in his semi final heat after stumbling out of the blocks. Johnson would then go transition out of running and become a trainer and make public appearances for charities throughout Canada, as he's still a figurehead in Canada despite his disqualifications. In twenty ten, he released an autobiography and Tired Soul to Soul and was a part of a new book that came out in twenty eighteen about all that happened, about how he was disqualified and how his drug testing was a little off called Ben Lewis the Fastest Man Alive to just give you some perspective on how fast it was that he ran in nineteen eighty eight at nine point seven nine seconds, which he says he could have ran faster if he didn't hold his arms out at the end. That time was not seen again until eleven years later when Maurice Green of the United States ran nine point seventy nine and it wasn't beaten until two thousand and two by Tim Montgomery who also tested positive for steroids, so his time was voided and the first official time that was given wasn't until two thousand and five. Was the first person that officially beat Ben Loose's time, and as Stepha Powell who ran nine point seven eight seconds, who held the record until Yussein Bolt took over in two thousand and eight, and the current record is at nine point five eight which seems like an incredibly fast time and the sport has become cleaner throughout the years, but there's still athletes contesting positive for steroids, as there are so many options out there and so many things that these athletes take to try to get an edge, to try to become that fastest man in life, because it means endorsements, it means fame, it means everything as a runner, especially a sprinter, to be named the fastest man alive. And Ben Johnson wanted the fame, he wanted the money, and he wanted to be the fastest man alive and he was for three days. And if you want to hear more about track and field, I encourage you to listen to On the Track in Field, where coach Airs talks to great athletes as well as dives into the history of track and field. He's got a great episode with Professor Dave Lut who goes through the Crown Games of ancient Greece to learn about how there was even more than just the Olympics ancient Greece. It's a great listen and I encourage you to check out this if you like track and field at all, We'll put a link in the description for you to check it out. And if you like this episode, please let us know. You can reach out to us on our social media. We're at Daily Sports History on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube threads, macedon Pinterest, wherever you like to socialize. Word there you can follow us and let us know how much you love the show, and come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. In the answer today's trivia question, when was the first time Ben Johnson became the fastest man alive? In nineteen eighty seven, Ben Johnson became the fastest man alive, running nine point eight three seconds, beating the previous record by point one seconds.