An Olympic anti-doping report kept secret for 30 years has revealed that some athletes at the Seoul Summer Games, including two medallists, escaped punishment for potential drug infractions while others — including world champion Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson — were summarily disqualified.Details contained in the 1988 Olympic Medical Commission documents obtained by the Star provide the first official accounting of how top anti-doping scientists responded to the Games’ cheating athletes and in particular, how they handled the Olympics’ most explosive and enduring drug scandal: Johnson’s positive test for an anabolic steroid.Quick background: On Sept. 24, 1988, Johnson, then 26, won the Olympic 100 metres in world record time, beating American archrival Carl Lewis in the Games’ most hyped showdown. Three days later, the Toronto runner was stripped of his medal and his record, and was flying home from Seoul in disgrace. Lewis was awarded the gold.Though Johnson would later admit that he, in fact, had used banned anabolic steroids during training, his story remains compelling as more details about his treatment in Seoul — including his withheld lab report and alterations made to parts of it, a Star investigation found — continue to emerge three decades later. When asked about the new revelations, Johnson, who regularly deals with the public during his travels for speaking engagements, said his story strikes them the same way he sees it.“People think, ‘Who in their right mind would take something (banned) leading up to Games, knowing they’re going to win at the Games and that they will be tested?’” said Johnson, a 57-year-old grandfather of three.Read more:Johnson’s surprising lab tests revealedBen was fast, justice was fasterIs it time to see Ben Johnson in a new light?The IOC did not return a request for comment on the report’s release.The 134-page medical commission document ...
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