Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 m at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea ended in controversy, after Canada's Ben Johnson defeated defending champion Carl Lewis from the United States with a world record time of 9.79s. Two days after the final however, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal by the IOC when his post-race drug test indicated steroid use. His record time of 9.79 seconds was also erased. However, Johnson was not the only participant with a cloud over his success. Carl Lewis, Linford Christie and Dennis Mitchell all tested positive for banned substances during their careers.Fact|date=August 2008 The race has been nicknamed by one writer to be "the dirtiest in history". [http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athletics/comment/0,10083,939276,00.html]

Johnson was not the first Olympian to be caught with performance enhancing drugs, but he was a tremendously popular athlete involved in the highest-profile event of the Olympics. Johnson's drug scandal stoked a media frenzy and gave rise to the Dubin Inquiry into steroid use by Canadian athletes.

There were a total number of 103 athletes competing in the men's 100 metres in Seoul, with thirteen qualifying heats (103 competitors), five second-round races (40 competitors) and two semi-finals (16 competitors), before the final (8 competitors) took off on Saturday September 24, 1988.

Medalists

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2petG-lC-kw=YouTube Video of Men's 100m Finals, 1960-2000]

emi Finals

ee also

* Women's 100 metres

References

* [http://www.aafla.com/6oic/OfficialReports/1988/1988v2.pdf Official Report]