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Part of the reason is that disqualifications have primarily been confined to other, less popular sports -- especially weight lifting and field events, like the hammer throw and shot put. But much of the shock is a by-product of the fascination with the 100-meter dash. That most elemental, primordial event is run, at least in the mind, by almost every child on earth, and its Olympic champion occupies a place of honor as the fastest man alive. He is the heir of Harold Abrahams of Chariots of Fire fame, of Jesse Owens, Bob Hayes and Carl Lewis. What other betrayal could mean as much?
It is hard to recall any that has been so passionately denounced. In Canada, a country that was delighting in its first gold medal of the Games, outrage abounded. Canadian Sports Minister Jean Charest announced the draconian penalty of banning Johnson from ever representing Canada on a national team again, calling the incident a "national embarrassment." Many saw the sprinter as pitiable, and some, like I.O.C. vice president Richard Pound, believed he had been duped as well as doped, saying, "Johnson probably wouldn't know what a steroid is." But across Canada spread a sense of bewilderment and anger.
Around the world, Johnson's disqualification suddenly riveted public attention on the decades-old problem of performance-enhancing drug use with an altogether new intensity. By week's end the total of ten drug-related disqualifications in Seoul was close to the 1984 figure. But many thought: If this world-record holder would risk detection, everyone must be doing it. Spectators felt deceived and non-using athletes felt gypped. Overnight the Olympics became clouded, suspected of being an unholy chemistry competition rather than the glorious alchemy of will, talent and training that is its ideal.
The image unjustly diminished too many great performances. But fears about a widespread drug problem are entirely justified: the use of performance- enhancing agents is far more common than the number of disqualifications would imply. Dr. Robert Voy, chief medical officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee, reports that no-penalty testing in 1983-84 found that 20% to 50% of U.S. athletes were doping. Current formal testing in the U.S. turns up positives at a rate of 2% to 3%. Athletes' understanding of how to beat the tests by using either extra drugs that mask the performance-enhancing ones or by getting off the stuff in time to clear their systems accounts for the difference. Says Dr. Bertram Zarins, a team physician for the New England Patriots and Boston Bruins: "Athletes are always a step ahead of any testing program."
For almost every sport, there are some pills and potions that promise black- magic results. To fire their systems up, many competitors have turned to stimulants, using amphetamines or even caffeine enemas and suppositories, because rectal administration puts the chemical into the bloodstream without causing an upset stomach. Testing for "uppers" by sports federations is highly reliable, but use of this class of drugs is not confined to competitions like the Olympics. Some of the most famous cases of stimulant usage have occurred in professional baseball and football, which have lax testing for the substances.