A URINE SAMPLE WHOSE STAIN ON GAMES REMAINS
Teammate McKoy talks about Johnson’s positive drug test in Seoul and the fallout
In Ben’s case, he was persecuted more by Canada than he was by the rest of the world. We were the hardest on him. The rest of the world forgot quickly about Ben, but I don’t think Canada ever forgot.
MARK McKOY, former Olympic hurdler
Mark McKoy can still hear the banging on the hotel room door and the words that immediately followed, just like it was yesterday.
“Ben, get dressed. You’ll have to come with us.”
That was almost 30 years ago, at the last Olympics in South Korea. The morning Olympicsized drug chaos began to expose McKoy’s close friend, Ben Johnson and apparently change the world of sport.
“From that point on, it all got kind of crazy,” the Canadian hurdler McKoy remembers.
“I was visiting Ben at his hotel. He had run his race. I hadn’t run mine yet. Suddenly, the chef (de mission, the late Carol Anne Letheren) was at the door. And she was kind of frantic. Nobody knew exactly what was going on.”
The last time the Olympics were in South Korea, the story and the scandal was all about drugs and the news of Johnson testing positive after breaking the world record in the men’s 100 metres. Now, as the Olympics are about to begin in Pyeongchang, this time Winter Games, the overwhelming story surrounding the event is the state of systemic drug cheating in sports, so much of it involving Russian organizers and its athletes.
And McKoy, now 56, still involved in training and developing athletes, wonders how much really has changed in all the years since Seoul.
“Look, what’s changed?” he said.
“We weren’t a country. We were a small group of athletes. A few athletes that nobody really knew about and it wasn’t state run or anything like that. Now you’re seeing entire countries (like Russia) and it’s like the government is behind it. I have no evidence because I’m not involved on whether there is more than there used to be or less, but you know it’s more sophisticated. And remember when everyone was saying (Seoul) was going to change sport forever? Well, things haven’t really changed, have they?
“Ben Johnson took drugs. Big effing deal. But Ben Johnson paid a price for his mistake that no one has ever paid. He became the poster boy, the victim for everything that was wrong with sports. We all know what he did was wrong, but he was overly crucified for it, especially when you see what’s happened since then.
“Normally, you’d think your country would treat you better than any other country because it’s your country. But in Ben’s case, he was persecuted more by Canada than he was by the rest of the world. We were the hardest on him. The rest of the world forgot quickly about Ben, but I don’t think Canada ever forgot. And the way Ben was treated made some of us want to leave Canada and I think some of that played a part in ( boxer) Lennox (Lewis) leaving (the country).”
McKoy was considered a medal contender in Seoul in the 110 metre hurdles. He finished seventh and abruptly left the Games. He said he left early because of an injured Achilles. He also said he needed to escape the continuing chaos after Johnson’s positive test. Some still believe McKoy left and tanked his race to avoid drug testing, a scenario he vehemently denies.
“I was having my own issues at the time with my Achilles and everything else just made it so hard to focus,” McKoy said. “After the (positive test) story broke in the village, it was a nightmare, really. It seemed the press was everywhere we went. We couldn’t leave our rooms. We were part of Ben’s team. We were part of his family. I’d known him since high school. Anyone involved with Ben was swarmed.”
McKoy, who won his Olympic gold medal in the 110 metre hurdles in Barcelona four years later, was like a lot of athletes who wound up leaving Seoul with a certain bitterness that took years to come to grips with.
Boxers Lennox Lewis and Egerton Marcus couldn’t go home early.
Their gold medal matches were on the final days of the 1988 Games. Lewis beat Riddick Bowe in a classic memorable superheavyweight fight, winning gold. Marcus ended up with a silver in the middleweight division. Those were two of Canada’s 10 medals from Seoul.
But the gold by Lewis, which normally would have brought with it national celebration, generated little acclaim.
“I don’t know if he ever got over that,” McKoy said.
“I’ve talked to him a few times about it. In a way, I think that drove Lennox out of Canada if he ever had a chance of staying.”
Lewis went on to a Hall of Fame boxing career and terrific runs as heavyweight champion of the world.
McKoy left Canada for a time, but still considers himself Canadian and spends some of his time now speaking about his Olympic experiences.
“The first question the kids ask is — do you regret your involvement in drugs? It was one of the worst times of my life and yet I call it the best thing that ever happened to me. That sent me in the right direction. I can talk about being young and driven and you get persuaded to do things you shouldn’t do. There was money involved. It’s in every sport. I tried everything legally and I was just off the podium. And you’re thinking as a kid, how do I get to the podium?”
McKoy got to the top of the podium in 1992, after living through the intensity of the Dubin Inquiry in Canada and the craziness of Seoul. And far removed from the Summer Olympics, he will tune in this week to do what he always does — watch the Olympic Games on television.
“My TV will be on 24/7,” he said. “That’s the way it is when it comes to the Olympics. I always watch the Olympics, summer and winter. I’m not much of a winter person. But I’ll be watching the luge, the downhill, skiing, some obscure sports. Why? Because it’s the Olympics.”