Sports need true heroes

THE anniversary of an event that shamed the Olympics came and went this week.

It was exactly 25 years ago that the final of the Seoul Olympics 100m unfolded in 1988.

Lining up among the finalists were two bitter rivals, Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis.

It was over in all of 9.79 seconds as Johnson obliterated the field. It was the fastest a man had run over the distance and many believed it was too good to be true.

It could have been faster had Johnson not stolen a glimpse at Lewis and raised his index finger in celebration, costing himself valuable nanoseconds.

The image of Johnson crossing the line in triumph remains iconic and has come to represent athletics’ achilles heel – performance-enhancing drugs.

A mere three days later Johnson was exposed as a cheat fuelled by steroids. Six more of the men who contested the race, including Lewis, were later, much later, also caught.

Johnson returned to the scene of his crime and shame on Tuesday as an ambassador of a drugs-free sports initiative.

He has, rightly or unfairly – as he would like the world to believe – remained the face of drug use in sport despite growing evidence that many more of those elevated to the podium are no less cheats than he was. The world of sports, it seems, is teeming with such scum.

In South Africa our sports have remained largely drug free, or so we believe. With Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula sitting on the executive of the World Anti-Doping Agency, we can only hope our heroes in sport are just that – heroes.