Top 10 scandals in the history of sports

Ben Johnson wins Olympic gold and fails a drug test, 1988

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Canada’s Ben Johnson ran the 100m alongside other notable athletes like USA’s Carl Lewis and Great Britain’s Linford Christie. People expected a close contest to see who would be crowned the fastest man in the world. But nobody expected such a dominating performance from the Canadian sprinter.

9.79 seconds after the starter’s pistol went off; Ben Johsnon crossed the line almost two strides ahead of the pack. A new record. A world record. Johnson was so brash after his victory that he even said he could have clocked a faster time had he not celebrated just before the end.

But fate had other things in store for him as his urine samples tested positive for Stanozolol, an anabolic steroid and a performance enhancing drug that was banned by the (International Association of Athletics Federations) IAAF. Johnson was disqualified three days later and the gold medal was awarded to Carl Lewis, who had come in second. Johnson admitted to taking drugs in 1987 as well when he set the world record which was later rescinded as well. He even blamed Lewis’ friend Andre Jackson for spiking his drink with the banned substance before his urine test.

It was a massive turning point in athletics as six of the eight 100m finalists would go on to be found guilty of consuming performance enhancing drugs or caught up in other drug controversies in their careers.