Page 49 - Seniors Today - July 2021 Issue

Pathbreaking event from the 1992 Barcelona Games and there
This was not quite how I saw it when
boarding the flight for Seoul in 1988
though. To cover an Olympics was a
dream but having grown up and worked
in an environment which was so cricket-
dominated, I had no idea of what to expect.
From the time I joined the Olympic media
village, my compunctions vanished, and
worldview changed.
Where sporting action was concerned,
Seoul was pathbreaking even for the
Olympic movement. After a series of
boycotts by Western and Easter bloc
countries (Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980,
Los Angeles 1984), all countries were being
represented in these Games by the crème de
la creme of the world’s athletes.
A big addition was the participation
of top-notch tennis players like Steffi
Graf, Cris Evert, Miloslav Mecir etc. The
Olympics was restricted to amateurs before
1988. To facilitate professional athletes to
participate, rules were amended by fixing
a limited period of time before and after the
Games in which these athletes wouldn’t
play for money.
The hypocrisy was palpable, but towards
a good end in my opinion because
keeping away the world’s best athletes
was disservice to sports, sports fans,
broadcasters and sponsors. Because the
experiment with tennis players in the 1988
Olympics was hugely successful, topnotch
basketballers from the NBA were allowed
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #25 | JULY 2021
has been no looking back since.
Race of the century
Seoul was flush with stories – good and bad
-- which made it rich harvest for journalists.
From these, the most compelling was the
sprint face off over 100 metres between
reigning champion America Carl Lewis and
challenger Ben Johnson from Canada who
in fact was world record holder then.
Lewis v Johnson at Seoul was billed as
the Race Of The Century. Over a couple of
years prior to this event, the rivalry had
become intensely bitter and laced with
controversy. The race turned out to be a
classic, but with a twist to the tale which
would have major ramifications for world
athletics..
You could cut the air with a knife when
the runners assembled at the starting point.
It was early morning in Seoul. The timing
for the event had been adjusted to cater to
primetime TV viewers in the US, but the
stadium was choc-a-block. Who would
miss out on a slice of history!
Once the starter’s gun went off, the
packed stadium broke into a roar, egging
on their favourites to a medal, possibly a
record. From our vantage point near the
80 m mark, the race changed momentum.
Johnson, who was trailing Lewis, suddenly
surged ahead in a remarkable show of
strength and speed leaving the American
bewildered, tongue hanging out in disbelief
as he finished second.
But Johnson winning gold was not the
story of the Games. A bigger one was to
follow less than 12 hours later when the
results of his dope test were known. I was
asleep in the media village when a knock
on the door woke me up. ``Ben’s tested
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