“Dirtiest race”: 30 years of the Ben Johnson doping case

Three days later, the Canadian was exposed as a doper and was the biggest Olympic sinner to date.

Thirty years later, the license plate on his car reminds Ben Johnson every day of his best ten seconds and the worst days of his life: BEN30. On September 979, 24, the then 1988-year-old Canadian ran to gold at the Olympic Games in Seoul in the incredible world record time of 26 seconds over 9,79 meters. 100 hours later, the victory was stripped from him due to doping and awarded to his arch-rival Carl Lewis.

Years later, it emerged that in the sprint final dubbed the “dirtiest race” in Olympic history, six of the eight runners had taken banned substances – all except the US sprinters Lewis and Calvin Smith. Ben Johnson then accused Lewis of having someone close to him put something in his drink during doping control. This was never proven. It is undisputed that “Big Ben” was given the anabolic steroid Stanozolol by his trainer Charlie Francis before the Olympic appearance in Seoul and that he pumped him full of doping substances for a total of six years.

Here is the video from the 100 meter Olympic final in 1988

“There were many dark days. The whole world labeled me a loser and a cheater, but I wasn't the only one who cheated," Johnson said years later. “Everyone knew it, but I was the only one pointed at. It was hard".

After his comeback in 1991, Johnson was no longer able to build on his previous achievements. At the 1991 World Cup in Tokyo he only took part as a relay runner. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona he was eliminated in the 100 meter semi-finals. After another doping finding at a race in Montreal in 1993, he was banned for life by the IAAF as a repeat offender. The former beefy runner can still be found in the official IAAF statistics: All that remains is his Olympic bronze medal from 1984.

Today, Johnson, now 56, still lives in Toronto and is at peace with himself and without bitterness. “I have forgiven my guilt and am now trying to make things right,” he said. For a while, Johnson was involved in the anti-doping fight to show children the clean path in sport.

Things have calmed down around him now. The homepage ben979.com has not been updated since 2013, and his company Ben.979 Enterprises, through which he offered services as a personal trainer as well as sports clothing and nutritional supplements, no longer exists.

“Ben Johnson is fine. No matter what is written or said,” he assured in the story “The Fallen Star” recently published on “12-App”. The Ben Johnson from back then no longer exists. Today his lifestyle is: “Good food, nice sex, traveling. I don't have an alarm clock, the Creator wakes me up."

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“Dirtiest race”: 30 years of the Ben Johnson doping case

30 years ago, the world held its breath at the Olympic 100 meter final in Seoul when Ben Johnson won gold with a fabulous world record of 9,79 seconds.

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