The spectacular disg-race!

My memories of watching the Ben Johnson-Carl Lewis showdown at the 1988 Seoul Olympics

- AYAZ MEMON

The Carl Lewis versus Ben Johnson showdown in the 100m final at the Seoul 1988 Olympics remains the high point of my career covering sport. Given how events unravelled, before, during and after the race, I have not seen anything more dramatic or spectacular.

Since the modern Olympics began in 1896, the Games remain the biggest sporting event in the world. The Seoul edition carried even more significance, coming as it did after a series of major boycotts that had marred the Olympic movement.

In 1976, more than 20 African countries stayed away from the Montreal Games, protesting the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to take action against New Zealand, which had allowed their rugby team to tour South Africa during apartheid.

In 1980, America and most of the Western Bloc, numbering 65 countries, boycotted the Moscow Games protesting the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. This invited retaliation from the Eastern Bloc led by the USSR, adding up to more than 15 countries, which refused to participate in the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

The future of the Olympics was getting alarmingly wobbly. A reboot had become imperative for the Games to survive.

The IOC, through painstaking lobbying and astute diplomacy, worked towards getting all the countries in the world to participate in the 1988 Games. Even so, seven, including Cuba and North Korea, did not come to Seoul. However, 159 countries did.