Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

Aftermath

Lewis had tested positive at the Olympic Trials for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. He defended himself, claiming accidental consumption; the USOC accepted his claim after a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain "Ma huang", the Chinese name for Ephedra. Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants and were cleared for the same reason. The highest level of stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, regarded as a positive test in 1988 but now regarded as negative; the acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five for other substances.

According to IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10 ppm were cause for further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, agreed that these levels were what one would see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and were unlikely to affect performance. Christie was found to have metabolites of pseudoephedrine in his urine after a 200 m heat at the same Olympics but was later cleared.

Of the top five competitors, only former world record holder and eventual bronze medalist Smith never failed a drug test during his career. A CBC radio documentary broadcast on September 19, 2013 stated that 20 athletes tested positive but were cleared by the IOC at these Olympics; an IOC official stated that endocrine profiles indicated 80 percent of track and field athletes tested showed evidence of long-term steroid use.

Background

The men's 100 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics marked the event's 21st edition, having been held at every Games since 1896. For the first time, more than 100 athletes competed. Twelve nations—Algeria, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Hong Kong, the Maldives, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Togo, Tonga, Vanuatu, South Yemen, and Zimbabwe—made their debut, as did Chinese Taipei. The United States, with its 20th appearance, led all countries.

Competition format

The 1988 men's 100 metres used the four-round structure first seen in 1920, with heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The "fastest loser" rule, which had been around since 1968, was applied to both the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds to keep each subsequent heat at exactly eight runners. The opening round consisted of 13 heats, each with seven or eight athletes. The first three finishers from each heat moved on, joined by the nine fastest remaining times, for a total of 48 quarterfinalists. These were split into six heats of eight. The top two from each quarterfinal advanced, along with four fastest losers, creating 16 semifinalists in two heats. The top four from each semifinal then made the eight-man final.

Records

Prior to the Games, the world record was 9.93 (excluding Johnson's rescinded 9.83). The Olympic record was also 9.93. During the competition, Johnson ran 9.79, but after his disqualification, Lewis's 9.92 was recognized as a new Olympic record and became a new world record after Johnson's time was rescinded.