What is the biggest injustice of track and field history?

Somehow I think the biggest injustice came at the 1993 Beijing Games.

Either there was severe cheating going on to create the records that still stand or we all got cheated from seeing these great performances that have no public video coverage.

RunWild wrote:

fisky wrote:

Ben Johnson winning the World Championships in 1987 and the 1988 Olympics was the biggest injustice in US sprinting history.

.

Carl Lewis was just as dirty as Ben Johnson was, and conspiracy theories suggest that post-race Lewis spiked Johnson's drink to ensure Ben tests positive (not like any of them were clean in the first place, but they were all using some sort of masking agent to dodge the testing.)

US Sprinting History - FULL of foul play and doping

To be fair, Lewis took something that was basically an over the counter diet pill, which 2 weeks earlier was not on the ban list. By todays standards, he should have received a 6 month ban; however, if they had done that, they would have had to ban a couple 100 other athletes. During the mid-80, half of the runners I knew were taking some drug store purchased supplement that was rumored to make you faster. In a lot of cases these supplements weren't on the banned list and if they were, often the athlete didn't know it. There was no internet or email at that time and often you didn't see the banned list for months or sometimes not until the following season.

Its crazy to compare Ben Johnson to Carl Lewis, Ben was basically a 10.2 sprinter who was literally drugged out on anabolic steroids to the gills. Ben has health problems today due to the massive amount of steroids he took. Carl Lewis was not a 10.2 sprinter who suddenly become world champ. Lewis ran 10.2 as a college freshman and slowly got better. Carl Lewis was a world class athlete at age 17 and certainly did not achieve his greatness due to drugs. Lewis never had a spike in performance or some incomprehensible mind blowing performance, he got better over time and was more known for his technique as oppose to explosiveness or raw acceleration. - Btw, this is coming from someone who is not a big Carl Lewis fan.

stanhope wrote:

Another point, not directly doping related, is the Gail Devers win over Marlene Ottey in the 1996 Olympics. The photofinish-reader got it wrong.

Looks pretty clear like Devers over Ottey:

how does it feel wrote:

Obvious Answer wrote:

Sorry, but yours is probably the dumbest answer on the thread (though I have to admit that I don't have time to go back and read every answer to be sure).

You were pwnd.

Your clueless.

Your welcome.

Pre ran nearly 100 meters more than Viren in that 5,000.

Track Town is Eugene wrote:

When Pre was cheated out of the 3rd Gold Medal at the Olympics.

That there was no finisher medal left for me.

Randy Barnes world record standing. The guy got a life time ban two weeks later.

AbsolutelyIts crazy to compare Ben Johnson to Carl LewisCarl didn't ever show any kind of performance magic. If he suddenly started doping to counter Ben .. when? And where does this show up in his times?crazy.

Brian Oldfield's 75ft shot put never recognized as a WR. There was a professional track & field circuit back in the day and any WR set by "professional" athletes would not be counted. He was screwed over. Oldfield also had a 76ft throw as well.

Noduce wrote:

Ryun was not robbed. He took a risk running in the pack and has to accept that it was not the smartest tactic. He should have led, pushed the pace, stayed ahead, and avoided the hustling in the pack. His fault for lacking the courage to front run.

LOL You know this one came from Deanouk. LOL

Born in the 856 wrote:

Brian Oldfield's 75ft shot put never recognized as a WR. There was a professional track & field circuit back in the day and any WR set by "professional" athletes would not be counted. He was screwed over. Oldfield also had a 76ft throw as well.

So...why is a 75 ft throw not being recognized as a WR considered a bigger injustice than a 76 ft throw not being recognized as a WR?

The 76 ft throw was done in practice. He was also a good sprinter, even at 6'5" and 275 lbs. Here he is at the 1976 Superstars 100 yd dash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWa3cBjPcQA

(Oldfield sets new I984 AR, Bruce Jenner interviewing and looked normal back then)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWa3cBjPcQA

EPOpians wrote:

Doping Morracans, especially El G.

Doping Russians.

Doping American Sprinters.

Or the doping americans in general right?

morcelli and guerrouj

won 7 consecutive world titles

Noduce wrote:

Ryun was not robbed. He took a risk running in the pack and has to accept that it was not the smartest tactic. He should have led, pushed the pace, stayed ahead, and avoided the hustling in the pack. His fault for lacking the courage to front run.

Jim Ryun maybe was not robbed exactly, but he was certainly hard done by at Munich, both by US and Olympic officialdom.

First of all, the clown responsible for the heat seedings looked at Ryun’s mile time, concluded no one could run a mile that fast and assumed it must be a 1500mts time - and so placed Ryun in the wrong heat to begin with.

But even after having been tripped up by a novice competitor, all shouldn’t have been lost had the US officials put in a authoritative appeal against the exclusion from the next rounds as we all know, had the same happened to a competitor from many of the more aggressive, or hypersensitive countries that the Olympics have to treat with kid gloves - he would have been through to the next round.

But the US officials had gone missing, and all Ryun could find was a lawyer friend who submitted an appeal on his behalf knowing nothing of the Olympic rules and procedures.

These were the same affirmative action US officials that had ruined the chances of their own 100mts competitors by giving them the wrong time for their qualifying heats.

But what sort of officials are those who turned down Ryun’s appeal?

Certainly not sport lovers as there would have been little objection to Ryun’s re-instatement and who would seriously want to miss an Olympic 1500 final with Ryun, Vasala and Keino lining up at the start?

We missed one of the greatest Olympic finals ever.

He ran like a chump, dawdling in the back of the pack with guys with PRs 20 slower than his. He didn't deserve to be in the final. If he wanted to be in the final he should have run more assertively.

Ryun was placed in a heat. It doesn't matter which heat or why he was placed in it. Ryun got man handled like a bitch in that race. He was the world record holder and ran like a chump novice flailing around at the back of the pack. It doesn't how fast you are in the 1500m if you have poor tactics and no racing skill.

'Know Where To Run' is an excellent epic, a true story, about one woman's journey for the Gold (the Olympic Marathon), whose dreams were capsized by the 1980 boycott due to Russia's invasion of Afghanistan. Ms. Petronella's captivating style is a page-turner, that illustrates the courage that she had to endure - sacrificing her dreams - in lieu of another's monumental goal, all for the good of the team (the USA)."

http://www.amazon.com/KNOW-WHERE-RUN-AMERICAN-ODYSSEY-ebook/dp/B008ARCCTC/ref=la_B00279IQD0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432141486&sr=1-1

Americans wrote:

Lewis was a doper as well. He has admitted it and USATF has done so much to cover it up. Johnson did cheat, but so did Lewis. Don't act like Ben was the only cheat in that race because of his nationality. The Americans in that race cheated as well.

Link to him admitting it ?