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Ben Johnson: Canada's shame

Broadcast Date: Sept. 26, 1988

The nationwide party sparked by Ben Johnson's gold-medal triumph ends abruptly three days later, when the International Olympic Committee reveals the sprinter has tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol. Canadians in Seoul and back at home are horrified by the news. For his part, Johnson denies having taken steroids, but leaves Seoul in disgrace and the gold medal is awarded to Johnson's archrival Carl Lewis.

Ben Johnson: Canada's shame

• When Canadian officials received word of Johnson's positive test, he was rushed out of the Olympic village and checked into a Seoul hotel under a pseudonym. Shortly after, he boarded a plane for New York in the early morning.

• In Canada, federal Sports Minister Jean Charest addressed a press conference that day, admitting he had heard rumours of Johnson's drug use months earlier. He said he couldn't have launched an investigation based on rumours spread by other athletes.

• Canada was given 10 hours to appeal the Johnson ruling. Canadian IOC member Dick Pound agreed to represent the sprinter. Pound had been told that someone — perhaps a friend of Carl Lewis — had spiked Johnson's water bottle in the doping control area. The IOC admitted that crowd control was a problem, and that undocumented people were allowed in the doping control area.

• Scientific analysis quickly shot holes in the sabotage theory. For starters, stanozolol does not dissolve in water. Doping officials said they believed Johnson's steroid profile was not consistent with ingestion of stanozolol after the race. They believed it was in his system before the race, and likely indicated long-term steroid use.

• In an emergency press conference, an International Olympic Committee spokesperson said he considered stanozolol to be one of the most dangerous known anabolic steroids because of the way it can disturb the liver. He said the IOC had uncovered about 15 positive tests for the drug from various athletes over the past few years.

• Anabolic steroids improve an athlete's performance by increasing muscle mass, strength and endurance. However, these drugs can have serious side effects such as liver and kidney tumours, jaundice, high blood pressure and severe acne. In men, anabolic steroids can result in the shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts and an increased risk for prostate cancer. In women they can lead to growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, cessation of the menstrual cycle and a deepened voice.

• The reasons for the failed drug test remain murky to this day. Eventually, at the Dubin Inquiry, Johnson admitted to using steroids while training for Seoul. But both he and Francis say stanozolol was never used. They said Johnson used a steroid called furazobol.

• Stanozolol is considered to be a training drug, not something that would help an athlete during a competition.

• Johnson had passed eight drug tests since February 1987. His most recent had been seven months before the Seoul Olympics. He knew he would be tested if he performed well at the Games.

• A theory sometimes presented is that Johnson panicked before the race, and used a personal supply of stanozolol.

• Another theory holds that Johnson was using stanozolol, but misjudged the drug's "clearance time" — the amount of time it takes for a drug to clear the athlete's system and not show up on a drug test. Casey Wade of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the stanozolol test was perfected just before the Seoul Olympics, rendering athletes assumptions about clearance times useless.

Ben Johnson: Canada's shame

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: Sept. 26, 1988

Guest(s): Glen Calkins, Charles Cox, Anita Dinn, Robert Dugal, Matthew Fisher, Taylor Gordon, Carl Lewis, Lyle Makosky, Clare Rodney, Michelle Verdier, Carolyn Waldo

Host: Peter Mansbridge
Reporter: Claude Adams, Tom Kennedy, Marina Maribella

Duration: 2:13

Last updated:
June 9, 2009