Ben Johnson Lost Seoul

Ben had a beautiful stride. There was no wasted motion from head to toe. He didn't have a height advantage with regards to length of stride. Truly one of if not the greatest sprinter of all time.

It’s sad that people don’t know what really happened in Seoul. Charlie Francis told most of it in his book “Speed Trap”. After the Seoul catastrophe, Charlie and his athletes had to face many things, but none was more devastating than the Dubiin Inquiry. This was a legal proceeding, maybe the first of its kind. Everyone was required to testify under oath. Lying could result in jail time. At the centre of it were Ben Johnson and Charlie Francis. They were both so open about what they had done that it cost Ben all his medals and his records going back years. Ben was banned from racing for the rest of his prime athletic years. Charlie was banned from coaching athletes for LIFE. In retrospect, those sentences were extremely punitive. They had both told the truth. Ben was on steroids, but not the Stanazolol steroid the IOC claimed was in his sample. This contradiction was irrelevant in terms of the outcomes of the Dubin inquiry. Steroids are steroids. Ben and Charlie had admitted to steroid use under oath. That was all that mattered. But what really happened in Seoul then? When the news of Ben’s test results came back, Dick Pound, who was with the Canadian Team organization, went before and IOC committee to plead Ben’s case. By this time, everyone knew that the security had broken down completely in the athletes drug testing area. There were people without proper accreditation wandering around in the area which was supposed to be secure. No one knew what they were doing there. Dick Pound made the case that anyone could have spiked the bottles of water that Ben was drinking in order to give a urine sample. Impossible to prove that Ben had steroids in his system before the race. The committee responded that Ben’s endocrine profile indicated long term steroid use. Endocrine profile? Dick responded that he wasn’t properly prepared to defend Ben on that charge. That wasn’t the original charge. The committee told Dick, who was a lawyer, that it didn’t matter. This wasn’t a court of law and Ben was disqualified. Dick could do nothing more for Ben. It was over. By this time the Media had spread the word that Ben was disqualified for Stanazolol found in his urine sample. There was no point in trying to correct the record, Ben was still disqualified and no one would care about technicalities that changed nothing. Endocrine profile? What was that all about? The claim was made that Ben’s natural testosterone levels weren’t normal, something that happens with Steroid use. That test was actually run on all the athletes urine samples. After all the damage was done, Charlie managed to get the results of those tests. More than 80% of all the male athletes in track had the same problem with their endocrine profile as Ben. Ben was the only athlete to be disqualified on the results of those endocrine profile tests. Charlie had also got a bit more information about Ben’s urine sample. The Stanazolol in Ben’s urune was undifferentiated, meaning that it could of only been in his system for a very short time. The public perception of steroids was like they were magic. You take them and you are immediately stronger and faster. But that’s not how they work. There would have been no point in Ben having put Stanazolol in his system right before the race. It would do nothing in the short term and was a sure way to be caught. Furthermore, they had tried Stanazolol on Ben years before and it had an effect of making Ben’s muscles tight and he actually ran slower. That was the reason Ben was using a different steroid. Another mystery. How did that steroid get in Ben’s sample? Many years later, Charlie found out that the Stanazolol in Ben’s urine had not only been undifferentiated, it had actually been PURE. Only one way that could happen. Pure Stanazolol somehow got into Ben’s urine sample in the lab. But was it a case of accidental contamination, or was it done on purpose? Impossible to tell now. In any case, Seoul was ancient history. Was Ben set up? Of course, there were powerful people and big money riding on Carl winning the 100m. Much more so than Ben. Insiders knew that everyone was taking steroids, but they’d never been able to catch Ben. It was the same reason they weren’t catching other big names either. There wasn’t random testing in those days. If you were an important athlete, you were working with a team of professional trainers and ‘nutritional’ experts who knew exactly how long you needed to be off the steroids before testing in order to not be caught. The magic of Steroids was that they helped you workout longer, harder and recover faster for months on end. There was no reason to risk taking them too close to the important, drug tested races. So, was someone paid off to contaminate Ben’s urine sample? Someone who didn’t know what steroid Ben was using? Stanazolol was probably a good bet because lots of athletes were using it. Did they not anticipate the security breaking down in the drug testing area? Is that why they came up with the endocrine profile excuse, but only for Ben? You be the judge. It is interesting that the same Dick Pound that went along with the IOC Committee on Ben’s disqualification later became the head of the IOC’s drug testing program and was at one time on the short list for the job of new leader of the IOC. Coincidence? Reward?

Superlative documentary.....the narrator, the eerie music... everything was perfect 😊

Ben Johnson was so good it’s frightening.

Johnson was not the only one on the juice that day.

I just remember how jacked Johnson was. Then he just exploded out to he blocks like nobody had ever seen.

Funny how the passage of time has proved Charlie Francis right. All the other athletes in the 100m were on the juice too so you could choose to play on a level playing field or lineup 10m behind the rest. If Ben is American the IOC never announces a positive test as well all know its money that talks when it comes to the IOC. You'll never strip away the joy of watching Ben crush Carl Lewis .

The main reason Carl Lewis was so angry was that he didn't win. He was doping too, it was so widespread in the 80's and 90's and he was caught for it too, the Americans just covered it up better. Johnson was used as a scapegoat for the doping in '88, because the Yanks wanted the medals for themselves. Lewis was just so vain and arrogant that he wanted ALL the glory for himself.

That 100 m final was dirtier than a wicker toilet seat. And Carl Lewis should have been banned from participating because he failed three tests at the US Olympic trials. The brilliant Ben Johnson was made a scapegoat, that’s for sure.

It also made him a scapegoat for the entire track and field world who were all doing the same thing. The world owes Ben an apology.

No one talks about the guy that came in 3rd Calvin Smith, he was the only one out of the top 4 in that race to not be on steroids

Carl Lewis has broken his silence on allegations that he was the beneficiary of a drugs cover-up, admitting he had tested positive for banned substances but claiming he was just one of "hundreds" of American athletes who were allowed to escape bans. "There were hundreds of people getting off," he said. "Everyone was treated the same." Lewis has now acknowledged that he failed three tests during the 1988 US Olympic trials, which under international rules at the time should have prevented him from competing in the Seoul games two months later.

What everyone forgets is that Carl Lewis also did not pass his drug test that year. However, he said that it was due to cold medicine he was taking. However, a druggist said for cold medicine to show up in that percentage he would have to take it by the case load. The American Olympic committee let it pass.

What a shame. 30 years after it is very clear that he was the best and most natural sprinter. Not more doped than the rest of them...

I don’t care. This race was one of the most exciting events I’ve ever seen. The build up had gone on for about two years and Ben smoked Lewis. What came a couple of days later was sad but at that moment it was awesome. And looking at the reality of the doping situation then, I still think Ben is the best. Sorry Usain, you’re cool too..

This documentary should’ve been titled “Sacrificial Lamb”.

Your documentary Will not change or erase his name in the history of track. He Will remain GREAT in the heart of millions of People around thé world.

This was sad. I just wish him peace.

The only difference between Ben Johnson and the rest of the field of athletes is Ben Johnson got caught.

Ben got retired by this age 27. Metres before the finish line he was already raising his hand. I’m sure he could have ran faster than 9.79.