Olympic Series

Olympics – 1988 Seoul

The Seoul Games were marked by a long – awaited reunion of athletes from the West (who had not competed at Moscow) and the East (who were absent from Los Angeles). However, they were perhaps made more famous by the drugs scandals that marred the events.

The 1988 Olympics took place in a strangely symbolic location - Korea, a nation divided by the Bamboo Curtain along the 38 th parallel since the 1953 armistice. The DMZ or de – militarized zone, fifty kilometers from Seoul, is a place of incomprehension, distrust and even contempt. The hut at Panmunjom – engaged in negotiations since 1952 – is the most explicit and distressing illustration of this sentiment.

When the international Olympic Committee chose Seoul to host the twenty – fourth Olympic Games on 30 September 1981, they were bombarded with criticism and disapproval. Boycott threats soon followed. The death of 269 passengers on a Korean Airlines Boeing, suspected of spying and struck down by a Soviet Sukhoi in 1983, did not help.

The future began to look brighter when Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985. Somewhere between glasnost and perestroika, the Olympics were saved. Apart from some countries that remained hopelessly devoted to North Korea, the entire world was flocking to the Land of Morning Calm. Sadly, this geopolitical rapprochement is not how the Seoul Olympics will be remembered. They will go down in history as Games of scandal and doping. Ben Johnson and his steroids – and the disgraced sprinter’s disqualification – was just one of a long string of weightlifters, judoka, pentathletes, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Spaniard, Australians, Britons -------

Ben Johnson The Time Bomb

Rumours had been circulating for twenty – four hours. The word was that the third champion of the Games was to be disqualified. Two Bulgarian Gold medalist weightlifters had already been disqualified, along with other weightlifters and a pentathlete. Late on Monday 26 July in Seoul, a Korean newspaper was already printing the headlines that would hit the news stands in the early hours; ‘Olympic champion and world record holder Ben Johnson tests positive’. John Holt, General Secretary of the IAAF was visibly shaken on Tuesday and said “It may just be a rumour, but we are prepared for the worst”. Holt’s statement, made in a discreet British manner was indicative of, there still being some hope that the scandal would subside without harming the reputation of world athletics in general. But the IOC Medical Commission had no intention of keeping quiet. If the worst came true, the implication was clear: sport at its highest level was the subject of systemic manipulation.

Ben Johnson had been seeing an endocrinologist for several months, supposedly being treated for a thigh injury. It would seem astonishing if his coaching team which had highly sophisticated methods at its disposal, including gene therapy, would be imprudent enough to prescribe the world record holder a product easily detectable by the IOC laboratories, and specifically the Seoul laboratory, which was known to be extremely diligent. However, traces of anabolic steroids remain detectable six or seven months after their use, since this type of doping product is subject to qualitative, not quantitative analysis – unlike testosterone or caffeine – infinitesimal residues are enough to convict athletes treated with these products long before testing. On Tuesday 27 July, 10.30 am: Ben Johnson had been disqualified: Carl Lewis was declared the winner.

A Strange Angel  

After his 100 meters setback, Carl Lewis staged a comeback in the long jump and yet remained as distant as ever. He was detached and unconventional, with an air of self importance. Carl Lewis showed a physical beauty, perhaps never seen before on a running track. In the finals, a glimmer of gold reflected in his eyes, which expressed an anxious charm. By jumping 8.72 meters, he added to an incomparable series of jumps that had made him a sprinter and a long jumper; that amazing contradiction: who had often won but had never set any records.

Serhei Bubka Against Himself

Not yet twenty five, the world record holder in the pole vault had finally become an Olympic champion. Four hours into the competition, trouble was brewing as four vaulters still had hopes of a medal; three Soviets and an American. Serhei Bubka the world champion and the world record holder at 6.06 meters, was to clear 5.70 meters, which would have been a sideshow. But in the Olympics final, he had never been in a competition like this before. The pressure was tremendous. When Serhei cleared 5.90 meters in his third and final attempt, he let out an ecstatic cry. After five years of domination of the pole vault, he truly deserved this title.

The Incredible Flo – Jo

The easy victor in the 100 meters performed even better in the 200 meters, smashing the previous world record. A young woman of 28, who had been chasing glory for a decade, had taken a little over twenty seconds to become the very carnation of speed. It was strange to note that the incredible Flo – Jo belonged to a generation of athletes that had either retired or were ageing. She was a candidate for the 1980 US Olympic team, but the boycott meant she had to wait eight years, take second best several times and win a World Championship Gold medal as a member of the 4 x 100 meters relay team before her metamorphosis.

 The transformation took place in the off season, which she had previously spent writing poetry and children’s stories in which the fairy’s magic wand turned pumpkin into princesses, and eating fattening snacks. Ben Johnson’s training programme and Carl Lewis’ performances on the track were her two inspirations. What was seen on the track in Seoul proved that Florence Griffith – Joyner had taken on these two identities. Her power oozed from every pore in her thighs, the hypertrophy of which contrasted with the relative slenderness of her torso. As for her gait, it reproduced Lewis’ perfect equilibrium and harmonious, linear movements. The spectacle was captivating and intriguing, and turned the tables on athletes who had always beaten Flo – Jo.

The biography of this Californian athlete teaches us that she read the Bible every day, prayed before meals and phoned her mother twice a day. It is also mentioned that she trained hard all winter and did squat – lifts of 320 pounds/145 kgs. She passed away on 21 September 1998 during her sleep from an epileptic seizure. She was 38.

The Kenyans Clean Sweep the Distance Events

The poor East African nations dominated the 800, 1500, 3000 meters steeplechase and 5000 meters. Paul Ereng won the 800 meters; Peter Rono, the 1500 meters; John Ngugi, the 5000 meters; and Julius Karuki, the 3000 meters steeplechase.

Swimming and Diving

Kirstin Otto won six Gold medals, four of these individual in three different strokes; the great East German was a true champion. Matts Biondi the best men’s swimmer of the Seoul Games equaled Mark Spitz’s number of seven medals. In the spring board diving, Greg Louganis, of Samoan and North European ancestry, who was given up for adoption by his 15 year old parents, overcame a childhood blighted by racism and dyslexia and won the springboard Gold, despite being injured in the head in the qualifying rounds. He retained both his titles; springboard and platform, which he had won in Los Angeles in 1984, an unprecedented achievement.

Suleymanoglu, as Strong as an Ox

By taking the 60 kg weight category title, Naim, of Turkish origin and ancestry had broken thirty third world records and the sixth of the evening. Stefan Topurov of Bulgaria, who was challenging Suleymanoglu, was beaten by 15 kgs in the snatch. In the clean and jerk, Stefan who was drunk with exhaustion, was eliminated after the next increase of weight after 175 kgs. Though the competition was over, Suleymanoglu now turned on his style and lifted 177.5 kgs, 185 kgs, 187.5 kgs, 188.5 kgs and then finally 190 kgs. The crowd had gone wild and Turkish flags were waving frantically. Bulgarian flags were at half mast.

Steffi Graf: Real Gold

Germany’s Steffi Graf added a Gold medal to her Grand Slam. An unprecedented achievement in women’s tennis. Graf’s achievement was unequalled in the annals of tennis, which had been absent from the Olympic Games from 1924. Her ‘Gold Grand Slam’ was an incredible performance – a performance comparable to Bob Beamon’s 8.90 long jump in Mexico, or Ben Johnson’s 9.79 seconds in the 100 meters, if the timing was allowed. The five historic finals that Steffi had won were – Australian Open, Melbourne, 6 to 24 January 1988, French Open, Paris, 23 May to 5 June 1988, Wimbledon, 20 June to 3 July 1988, US Open, New York, 29 August to 11 September 1988 and Olympic Games, Seoul, 19 September to 1 October 1988.

The Games in Brief

Opening Date                             17 September 1988

Closing Date                                2 October 1988

Host Nation                                 South Korea

Nations Represented                  159

Athletes                                       8,465 (2,186 women)

Sports                                           23 (17 open to women)

Events                                           237 (86 open to women)

Games Opened By                        Roh Tae – woo, President

Olympic Flame Lit By                   Chong Sun-man, Kim Won-tak and Sohn Mi- chung (athletics)

Olympic Oath By                           Ms Hug-jae (basketball)

IOC President                                Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP)

For the first time ever, all three Golds in the equestrian dressage were won by women. Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm competed in her seventh Olympic Games, a new women’s record. Table tennis was introduced for the first time and tennis returned after a 64 year absence.

PS -: Matter researched from the archives of the Olympics Games museum in Laussane.

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

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