The Dirtiest Race in History ─ Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the Olympic 100M Final

The 1988 Seoul Olympics hosted what has been described as both "the dirtiest race of all time" and "the greatest track event in history." The unforgettable men’s 100 meter race has become infamous for the elation of breaking a seemingly impossible world record for human speed and for the doping scandal that followed. This book is a groundbreaking investigative account into the story of Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis, and how one of the oldest of Olympic sports became a complex high-stakes game of cheating, cover-up, and fallen heroes.

The book follows the remarkable buildup to the showdown of the two rival track superstars and chronicles Johnson’s gold medal win, a title he retained only briefly before he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and Lewis was awarded the gold. In 1999, however, after being named Sportsman of the Century by the IOC, Lewis his credibility damaged by revelations that he, too, used performance-enhancing drugs and tested positive prior to the Seoul Olympics.

Containing stunning new revelations, this book features candid witness interviews, including with Johnson and Lewis, to reconstruct the race, the hype, the drugs, and the deception, and it examines how the fallout continues to impact sports today, as every new record is met with widespread skepticism.

Richard Moore is an award-winning sports journalist with several books to his name, including In Search of Robert Millar and Heroes, Villains and Velodromes.