Ben Johnson (athlete)
Benjamin Sinclair "Ben" Johnson CM (born
December 30,
1961) is a former
Canadian athlete, best known for his disqualification for
doping use after winning the
100 m final in the
1988 Summer Olympics.
Born in
Falmouth, Jamaica, Johnson emigrated to Canada in
1976, residing in
Scarborough, Ontario, at the time a suburb of
Toronto and now a part of that city.
Johnson met coach
Charlie Francis and joined the Scarborough Optimists track and field club, training at
York University. Charlie was a Canadian 100 metre sprint champion himself (1970, 1971 and 1973) and a member of the Canadian team for the
1972 Summer Olympics in
Munich. Francis was also Canada's national sprint coach for nine years.
Johnson's first international success was when he won two silver medals at the 1982
Commonwealth Games in
Brisbane, Australia. He finished behind
Allan Wells of Scotland in the 100m with a time of 10.05 and was a member of the Canadian 4x100m relay team. This success was not repeated at the 1983 World Championships in
Helsinki, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing 6th with a time of 10.44.
At the
1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles, he did reach the 100m final and won the bronze medal behind
Carl Lewis and
Sam Graddy with a time of 10.22. He also won a bronze medal with the Canadian 4 x 100 m relay team of Johnson, Tony Sharpe, Desai Williams, and Sterling Hinds, who ran a time of 38.70. By the end of the 1984 season, Johnson had established himself as Canada's top sprinter, and on August 22 in Zurich, Switzerland, he bettered Williams' Canadian record of 10.17 by running 10.12.
In 1985, after seven consecutive losses, Johnson finally beat Carl Lewis setting up a rivalry that will go down in athletics history. Other success against Lewis inclued the 1986
Goodwill Games, where Johnson beat Lewis running 9.95 for first place, against Lewis' third-place time of 10.06. He also won Commonwealth gold at the 1986 games in
Edinburgh, beating a young
Linford Christie for the 100 metre title with a time of 10.07. Johnson also led the Canadian 4x100 m relay team to gold, and won a bronze in the 200 metres.
In May 1987, at the funeral of Carl Lewis's father, Lewis placed his gold medal from the Los Angeles 100 metres into the casket. His mother was surprised but Lewis explained "Don't worry, I'll get another one".[
1] Thus, Johnson's rival made it clear who he thought would win the 100m at the 1988 Olympic Games. By the time of the
1987 World Championships, however, Johnson had won his four previous races with Lewis and had established himself as the best 100m sprinter. At Rome, he confirmed this status by beating
Calvin Smith's
100m world record, by the large margin of 0.1 seconds, with a time of 9.83 seconds.
After Rome, Johnson started to make a lot of money. According to coach Charlie Francis, after breaking the world record Johnson earned about $480,000 a month in endorsements. Johnson won both the
Lou Marsh Trophy and
Lionel Conacher Award, and was named the
Associated Press Athlete of the Year for 1987. On
April 29 1987, Ben Johnson was invested as a Member of the
Order of Canada. "World record holder for the indoor 60-metre run, this Ontarian has proved himself to be the world's fastest human being and has broken Canadian, Commonwealth and World Cup 100-metre records," it read. "Recipient of the
Norton Crowe Award for Male Athlete of the Year for 1985, 'Big Ben' was the winner of the 1986 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete."
Despite the accolades, Carl Lewis was suspicious of Johnson's world record race in Rome. After the race, in a controversial interview with the
BBC, Lewis said: [
2]:
"There are gold medallists at this meet who are on drugs", :
"That (100 metres) race will be looked at for many years, for more reasons than one." Johnson's response was: :
"When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won't complain about that either." This set up the rivalry leading into the 1988 Olympic Games.
 |
Johnson winning at the 1988 Olympic games |
At the
1987 World Championships, in
Rome, Johnson gained instant world fame when he beat Lewis for the title, setting a new world record of 9.83 seconds as well. Johnson and Lewis were also the favourites for the
1988 Olympic title. On
September 24, Johnson beat Lewis in the final, clocking a new world record of 9.79 seconds. However, Johnson's urine samples were found to contain
steroids (namely
stanozolol), and he was disqualified three days later.
He later admitted having used steroids when he ran his 1987 world record, which caused the
IAAF to delete that record from the books as well. But Johnson and hundreds of other athletes have long complained that they used doping in order to remain on an equal footing with the other top athletes on drugs they had to compete against.
His claim bears some weight in light of the revelations since 1988. Including Johnson, four of the top five finishers of the 100-meter race have all tested positive for banned drugs at one point or another. They are
Carl Lewis, who was given the gold medal, along with
Linford Christie who was moved up to the silver medal, and
Dennis Mitchell. Of these, only Johnson was forced to give up his records and his medals, although he was the only one of the four who tested positive or admitted using drugs during a medal-winning performance. Later, Christie was caught using steroids and banned. According to documents released in 2003 by a former senior US anti-doping official, Dr. Wade Exum, Lewis and two of his training partners all took the same three types of banned stimulants (ones found in
over-the-counter cold medicine), and were caught at the 1988 US Olympic trials, which is the competition used to select the US athletes that will compete in the Olympics.
Johnson's coach,
Charlie Francis, a vocal critic of the IOC testing procedures, is the author of
Speed Trap, which features Johnson heavily. In the book he freely admits that his athletes were taking
anabolic steroids, as all top athletes are, but also shows why Ben Johnson could not possibly have tested positive for that particular steroid.
In
1991, after Johnson's suspension he attempted a comeback, but without much success. In
1993, he was found guilty of doping at a race in
Montreal, and was subsequently banned from the sport for life by the
IAAF.
His disqualified
world record 100 m time of 9.79 seconds was not surpassed until
September 14,
2002, by
Tim Montgomery.
Johnson also briefly acted as trainer for
Argentine soccer legend
Diego Armando Maradona in 1987
In 1999 Johnson made headlines again when it was revealed that he had been hired by
Libyan dictator
Muammar al-Qaddafi to act as a soccer
coach for his son,
Al-Saadi Qadhafi, who aspired to join an Italian soccer club. Al-Saadi ultimately did join an Italian team but was sacked after one game when he failed a drugs test. Johnson's publicist in Canada had predicted in
The Globe and Mail that his training of the young Gadhafi would earn Johnson a
Nobel Peace Prize.
Ben Johnson spent much of the latter part of the 1990's living downstairs in the house he shared with his mother and sister. He spent his leisure time reading, watching movies and
Roadrunner cartoons, and taking his mother to church. After losing his home in
Markham, Ontario to foreclosure, Johnson's current spacious home in
Newmarket, Ontario's Stonehaven neighborhood is one of the last remnants of his former wealth; he claims to have lost his Ferrari when he used it as collateral for a loan from an acquaintance in order to make a house payment.
In May 2005, Johnson launched a clothing and sports supplement line, the
Ben Johnson Collection. The motto for Johnson's clothing line is "Catch Me."
In a
January 1 2006 interview [
3] Johnson claimed that he was sabotaged in Seoul, and also stated that 40% of people in the sports world are still taking drugs to improve their performance.
In March 2006, television spots featuring Johnson advertising an
energy drink, "Cheetah Power Surge", started to receive some airtime. Some pundits questioned whether Johnson was an appropriate spokesperson for an all natural energy drink considering his steroids history. [
4] One ad is a mock interview between Johnson and Frank D'Angelo, the president and chief executive of D'Angelo Brands, which makes the drink, in which he asks Johnson: "Ben, when you run, do you Cheetah?". "Absolutely," says Johnson. "I Cheetah all the time."[
5] The other commercial includes Johnson and a cheetah, the world's fastest land animal, and encourages viewers to "go ahead and Cheetah."[
6]
*"Don't tell me I cheated the system because that's [expletive]," he says. "I didn't get treated fairly by the system. They cast me out and they were jealous because I turned in the fastest time ever run by a human and it was impossible at the time."[
7]
*"We're not friends, ever been, never will. Carl Lewis could never beat me on the track or off."
*"We need to show good faith for the young kids, the next generation coming up. Today, I tell the kids don't use drugs, because it's bad for you."
*"I did something good in my life. My mom and dad saw me run faster than any human, and that's it. Better than a gold medal."
*
List of athletes found guilty of using banned drugs*
Ben Johnson Collection Official Website.
*
1988: Gold for Johnson in 100m sprint On This Day, September 24,
BBC News.
*
Video of Ben Johnson's 100m sprint at the 1988 Olympics*
Video clip of Ben Johnson's comments after losing his gold medal in 1988*
Cover of the "Why Ben?" edition of the Toronto Sun - 1988*
CBC Digital Archives: Running Off Track: The Ben Johnson Story
