The two-time Commonwealth Games champion went down memory lane on his rivalry with Americans, in particular Carl Lewis and how it led to accusations of doping.
Retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson has relived his rivalry with the Americans and in particular Carl Lewis and how that led to his doping ban.
The two-time Commonwealth Games champion revealed that he relocated from Jamaica to Canada with his mother and siblings at a young age and decided to venture into sprinting.
Soon enough, he had already started making waves and realised that in order to get to the top, he had to beat the Americans. This came after a disappointing outing at the LA 1984 Olympic Games where he finished third in both the 100m and 4x100m relay team.
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Heading into the next Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, Johnson decided to do what it took to get to the to, claiming that everyone was doing that at the time. He revealed that the Americans believed that no one would beat them and if you did, then they would conclude that you were using drugs.
After being beaten by Lewis in a series of races, Ben Johnson was done with that and he silenced the American in four of their previous encounters in the build up to the 1987 World Championships.
In a meeting in Rome, Johnson beat Lewis for the title, setting a new world record of 9.83 seconds. Following the defeat, Carl Lewis explained his defeat and without naming anyone, he added that many people were using drugs.
At the 1988 Olympic Games, Johnson won the race in a world record time of 9.79 seconds but it was later found out that Johnson’s urine sample contained stanozolol, and he was disqualified three days after the race.
He was banned for two years and then upon coming back to the sport, he doped again and was banned for life.
“I remember at the 1984 Olympic Games the Americans took everything in the 100m but after that, I was on their radar,” Ben Johnson said in an interview with the Social CTV.
“When I won the World Championships in a world record time, everybody was stung about the time I set and everybody was saying, ‘This guy is probably using something’.
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“But you know, beating the Americans they are always saying that. They will come after you if you’re better than them. That’s what happened.”
Ben Johnson still maintains his innocence, explaining that the was just used as an example of the doping menace and noted that many other athletes were doping at the time.
If given a chance, Ben Johnson revealed that it was just his destiny to try out the other side of life and he has no regrets about what happened.
“I believe that and I know that I was being ambushed and I believe that the game that was being played was not fair and I had to play along with it…I was a small fish in the ocean. Just my mother and Jesus Christ came to my defense,” Ben Johnson shared.
“I won’t say regret because I think that was my destiny at the moment and I said yes to it since all of my opponents were using it and if I have to do it again, I would. As time went by, I was used as an example and a scapegoat.”
Following his second ban, Ben Johnson chose to retire instead of appealing and transitioned into coaching, working with Al-Saadi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
