Ben Johnson Seoul 88 Video

Here is some upclose footage of the 88 Olympic final followed by footage of the alleged false start in the semi!

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Great find man! Ive never seen those angles before. Check how Carl Lewis looks dumbfounded when he looks over at ben crossing the line. Priceless “what the…” facial expression.

That start by Ben is the best I’ve ever seen. I vividly remember watching that race live on TV and I still can’t believe that start when i see replays. There was a lot of build-up hype in the days just before the final and I was really looking forward to it. That look by Carl sums up his whole post race demeanor. Daniel, did you, by any chance, hear Carl’s post race interview? He was a total wreck and in total disbelief at what had just taken place.

6.33s 60m. Sorry don’t have the post race interview. Wish i did.

I never saw that either…great find. For some reason his arm drive looks diffferent in thoese videos like his arm isnt going up and out how I am used to seeing it.

Daniel, how about a BJ collage put to some good reggae.

Not sure what you mean beating the .1 limit. He did once get under with a legit reaction but that was in Cologne in 1984. In the Seoul final, the R/T was .132 and the semi that was caled a false start was clearly not! The call against Ben was so suspicious that many thought it was a fix. Dick Pound the VP of the IOC went after the starter and the officials asking for the readout, which they claimed was “not available”. Pound told them he was going to follow up on it and they better “find” it and there better not be anything amiss in the final. You can read his account in his book, which he put out recently.

What codec do I need to watch this?

Ahh it all makes sensse now - thanks for clearing that up for me.

The wording on the original footage had me confused. They said the footage was from the semi-final (which it was) but they also said ben was “too fast for the sensor” (i assumed the 0.1 reaction limit)… so i got confused and assumed the incident I had heard about (really cologne) infact happened in the semi-final and I had made a mistake thinking it occured earlier in Ben’s career.

I’ve edited my original post so it now makes sense.

What codec do I need to watch this?
It should be a standard Microsoft one. Unless it is DivX?

I agree, very strange. Almost looks as if Ben’s elbow stays in the same position, and his forearm rotates around his shoulder?

Daniel, did you, by any chance, hear Carl’s post race interview? He was a total wreck and in total disbelief at what had just taken place.

Lol, i bet. But I never saw it, do you know where I can get it online?

Daniel, how about a BJ collage put to some good reggae.

Sure, Im always open for new requests/challenges. Good reggae huh…thats very relative. There is the great ole tunes like Bob M and Beres H dem and then there is Beenie an Buju dem, there is also the new reggae etc.

What song(s) would you like to be on it? or just go with my own preference?

Welcome To Jamrock is still pretty hot over here.

Also whats so amazing is his ROM around his shoulder.

Welcome To Jamrock is still pretty hot over here.

Hmm, well Ill watch over all the videos I have for him and think of a theme or central idea, and work around that.

Daniel, I don’t know if Carl’s 1988 post race interview is available online. When that race was on TV, I had my VCR running and I think I caught most of that interview on video tape, which is buried somewhere at my parents house, far away. Next time I go to visit them, I’ll see if I can dig it up.

Carl reaction was very revealing. He didn’t know whether or not to be mad, disappointed, jealous, or what. He was just in shock; you could hear it in his voice. Ben was in his head during that whole olympics, even during the days leading up to the heats and finals. Ben acted cool and confident the whole time. From my perspective, it was as if Ben knew all along that he was in control of the heats all the way through the finals. It seemed like he didn’t worry about the hype and that he KNEW that he was going to get to the finish line faster than anyone else. Simple, just line up, bust out of the blocks, cruise down the straight, and raise my finger in the air. Now, I know it wasn’t that easy, but he made it look that way! The man was a force!

I found the interview online! Man, the announcer sums it up really good. “Charlie I think Carl Lewis was absolutely flabbergasted to see Ben Johnson so that far ahead!”

Here is the link if anyone wants to check it out (its the whole video with the race n everything though)

http://macthrowvideo.com/Download.html2.html

its under the section: Historic Track And Field Coverage. "
its named "1988 Olympic Games - Men’s 100M Final (66MB) MPEG "

Cant get anymore specific than that!

Wow, Daniel, you rule! I didn’t think that interview could be found. Ben’s runs in 1987 onward are what made become a fan of the 100m dash. I remember that like it was yesterday. I even met Carl in person shortly after that 1988 race. He was the same in person as his reputation is from media, etc.

“Them boys are trapped like two foxes in a hen house with a sack fulla eggs.”

i have carls post race intyerview, but its on the comp that crashed. it ever get it working again ill let you guys know.

edit: nvm it looks like you guys found it.

Gotta love the internet/computers! Allows us to revisit and relive great times in history. :slight_smile:

Also there seems to be an adduction of the leg/thigh before landing, awesome to watch.

Its going to take someone v special to match what was achieved in Seoul by Ben Johnson, I don’t care what the Mo Green suppporters say , just look at what happened in Seoul, and on a softer track than modern day tracks used by the elite. Sprinting really has not progressed much at the top, maybe the moving average of times of the world’s best has improved but take away super fast tracks and what do we have? Its spine tingling watching Johnson destroy the field.