A story to be sure- but it seemed more like 'justice' than some 'appalling' Olympic moment when other things on this list are considered. . .but it is important- I think back on 1988 and how North American sports leagues turned their back on steroids for far too long. . .

Not appalling at all -- Ben Johnson knew the rules, he broke them, and he had to pay the consequences. He had no one to blame but himself for his fate.

Though relatively rare at the time (ie 1988), Olympic drug testing and disqualifications seem commonplace today. Therefore, while this was a big story due to those factors and the fact that Ben Johnson was competing in one of the more notable events (is competing to be known as the fastest man alive), Johnson's disqualification simply isn't all that appalling by contemporary standards.

I remember wondering with my buddies why Ben's eyes were yellow at the start of his sprint. What a loser, sure did make for some funny jokes though.

This was the biggest blow Canadians at the time. I remember I was ten years old, and the whole country was so incredibly proud of Ben Johnson and our country. Pride in our country is something Canada definitely needs more of, and when he was disqualified he shamed the entire country. One interesting thing was that before the scandal, he was our Canadian Ben Johnson, but afterwards he was referred to as Jamaican-born Ben Johnson in the media. Come on, if we took his accomplishment as our own at the time, then we could certainly take his shame as our own. This was one non-Hockey athlete in our history who transcended sports (like Jordan or Tiger Woods), and we were betrayed, and could only accept part of the blame for that betrayal because it was we who held him up so high to begin with. Worst episode in Canadian olympics history, so I guess we got off pretty lucky (compared to Israel).

Ben: This goes on to illustrate the crap in the sports of today. Drugs, blood-doping, etc. ARE chemical means to say "I won" by. Long gone are the ways of sheer determination, guts, brains, and personal-esteem bolsters of "I did it". No ... we lay aside honor, integrity, and effort for chemicals because of the bottom-line $. After all, isn't sports just wonderful, today ... the watered-down version of human achievement, half-heartedness and going through the motions not to mention, cheating !!!

They all take steriods. Ben just got caught.