Sooner or later your ability to succeed on natural talent runs out when you run against the chemical barrier. The question became do you take drugs and try to win, or do you content yourself with losing for ever by staying away from them? Charlie Francis, Ben Johnson’s coach
The urine sample of Ben Johnson, Canada, Athletics 100 metre, collected on Saturday 24th September 1988, was found to contain the metabolic of a banned substance namely Stanozolol. Olympic doping committee televised announcement
In 1988 Ben Johnson failed a drug test at the Olympic games in Seoul. Just forty-eight hours earlier he had set a new world record in the 100m, won the gold medal and defeated his arch-rival Carl Lewis. In the years after Seoul six of the eight finalists have been implicated in some form of controversy involving performance-enhancing drugs. And Johnson has long believed he was the fall-guy in a sport where steroid use was endemic. The Race that Shocked the World, BBC 2012
1984 Los Angeles: No athlete was going for greater glory than Carl Lewis. ibid.
Not only had results gone missing, but there was now a new substance on the scene: it wasn’t detectable at all. ibid.
Johnson needed to increase his speed endurance to compete with Lewis. ibid.
The drugs took twenty-eight days to clear the body. And with no out-of-competition testing, avoiding a positive test required nothing more than looking at a calendar. ibid.
Zurich 1986: For the first time in nine races Carl Lewis had been beaten by Ben Johnson. ibid.
Rome 1987 World Championships: 9.83 seconds. ibid.
Just four months before the Olympics Johnson pulled a hamstring. ibid.
Four weeks before the Olympics Lewis and Johnson locked horns again in Zurich. ibid.
At the 1988 US Olympic trials Carl Lewis tested positive for three banned stimulants. This was not made public. ibid.
On a sunlit September afternoon in 1988 Ben Johnson stepped up to his blocks for the most important race of his life: the Olympic 100m final. Johnson symbolized the Canadian dream, the shy immigrant from Jamaica whose genius was discovered on the frozen running tracks of Canada. Johnson ran on time but he also ran on a lie: for years he had used steroids to boost his performance. And in 46 strides he guaranteed himself sporting immortality by running faster than any man in history. Two days later Johnson was at the centre of the biggest scandal in the modern Olympiad. Reputations s8e3: Ben Johnson: Lost Seoul, BBC 2001
[Charlie] Francis made an important discovery: performance enhancing drugs were a fundamental part of their [East Germany] success. ibid.
Carl Lewis: he was quicker and smarter. ibid.
[George] Astaphan gave Johnson a new steroid, a veterinary product designed to boost an animals’ body. ibid.
‘This is evil that’s being exposed.’ ibid. Ron Pickering
The more he denied the bigger the lie became. ibid.
Found guilty of taking illegal steroids, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal. Faster Higher Stronger – Stories of the Olympic Games I, BBC 2012
East German women dominated throughout the eighties ... A state-sponsored programme had been supplying athletes with performance enhancing steroids. Faster Higher Stronger – Stories of the Olympic Games IV
Well, when I think of steroids I think of an image. You have the advantage over someone, which is a form of cheating. I guess it wouldn’t be right unless it was legal for everybody. Reason it’s not legal for everybody is because it can hurt people seriously. Evander Holyfield
Anabolic steroids were not banned until after the 72 Olympics. Bill Toomey
Steroids can seem necessary to compete at the highest levels, and the quick rewards can outweigh the long term consequences to the user’s health. Howard Berman
There are guys in the game only because of steroids. They couldn’t make it with their natural talent, so they had to enhance themselves. It sucks. David Wells
I do not take steroids. I never have. It’s sad to me that people want to point fingers. I don’t do that. That’s not me. I wouldn’t feel like a human being. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Are we to say that any individual who’s on steroids that has an angry moment is due to steroids? What about the individual who gets angry and kills someone who’s not on steroids? What do we blame it on now? Jose Canseco
Sports is once again hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. I’ve been investigating the controversial and dangerous world of sports doping. Horizon: Sports Doping – Winning at Any Cost, BBC 2016
Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are using steroids. ibid.
Steroids are addictive in 30% of users. ibid.
Caffeine improves performance in a range of sports by up to 3%. ibid.
‘I lost the five Olympics medals … The most devastating loss: the loss of my freedom.’ Marion Jones: Press Pause, opening scene, ESPN 2010
‘I betrayed your trust.’ ibid. courthouse confession
She was a global superstar. ibid.
It was the denials, the multiple public denials … ibid.
Olympic Stadium Seoul South Korea 24th September 1988: ‘What a race; this is the race of this century.’ 9.79, Da Silver in lane one, ESPN 2012
The world record is gone again. ibid. David Coleman
He [Johnson] just didn’t have the core talent. ibid. Lewis
It was a dilemma that every runner in the Seoul runner would have to confront at some point in their career. ibid. tester
Some of our results were lost. Some number of cases never saw the light of day. ibid.
Not only had results gone missing, but there was now a new substance on the scene that was not detectable at all to the testers. ibid. commentary
1984: The Growth Hormone Games. ibid.
The main supplier in North America was Robert Kerr, a doctor based in Los Angeles. ibid.
Avoiding a positive required nothing more than looking at a calendar. ibid.
Lewis had tested positive at the US Olympic trials for three illegal stimulants. ibid.
Unbelievable! 9.79! ibid. race commentary
No-one can take it away from me. ibid. Ben’s after-race interview
I said, Well they finally got me. ibid. Ben
The biggest drugs story in Olympics history. ibid. news
Champion or cheat? Legend or liar? Miracle man or a master of deceit? This is the story you don’t know. The drugs. The Deception. And the damage done. Cycling’s Greatest Fraud, National Geographic 2013
1999 the US Pro Cycling team … Lance Armstrong was the team’s rising star and leader. ibid.
Armstrong urges them to start doping … The best team possible. ibid.
EPO: a thermos full of EPO … One of his drugs tests come back positive for Cortisone. ibid.
‘To Americans, Lance Armstrong is cycling superman.’ Storyville: The Lance Armstrong Story: Stop at Nothing aka The Armstrong Lie, commentary, BBC 2014
Many ex-teammates testified against Lance Armstrong. ibid.
It might never have happened had he hadn’t decided to take a victory lap in 2009. The comeback: what was he thinking? ibid.
‘The Armstrong Lie’ article offered proof that Armstrong’s first Tour win had not been clean. ibid.
Pro-cycling continued to suffer through doping scandals. ibid.
‘The man, Lance Armstrong from Texas, now has destroyed the field.’ ibid. UK race commentary, Col d’Aubisque
Even in 1999 Lance came close to getting caught when steroids showed up in a urine test. ibid.
He [Michele Ferrari] had sources inside anti-doping labs who kept him updated on the latest tests: Ferrari’s whole programme was cloaked in secrecy. ibid.
The star witness was an Italian cyclist Filippo Simeoni: in 2004 the Italian court convicted Dr Ferrari of sporting fraud forcing Armstrong to publicly end their relationship. However, Ferrari’s conviction would be overturned two years later. ibid.
‘At the time I didn’t lose sleep over it.’ ibid. Armstrong