Editing Carl Lewis (section)

===Ben Johnson and the 1987 World Championships===
After the 1984 Olympics, Lewis continued to dominate track and field, especially in the long jump, in which he would remain undefeated for the next seven years, but others started to challenge his dominance in the 100&nbsp;m sprint. His low-altitude record had been surpassed by fellow American [[Mel Lattany]] with a time of 9.96&nbsp;s shortly before the 1984 Olympics,<ref>''Track and Field News'', January/February 1986, vol. 39 #1–2, p. 14</ref> but his biggest challenger would prove to be Canadian [[Ben Johnson (Canadian sprinter)|Ben Johnson]], the bronze medalist behind Lewis at the 1984 Olympics. Johnson would beat Lewis once in 1985, but Lewis also lost to others, while winning most of his races. Lewis retained his number one rank that year; Johnson would place second.<ref name=100worldrank/> In 1986, Johnson defeated Lewis convincingly at the [[Goodwill Games]] in Moscow, clocking a new low-altitude record of 9.95&nbsp;s. At year's end, Johnson was ranked number one, while Lewis slipped to number three, having lost more races than he won. He even seemed vulnerable in the long jump, an event he did not lose in 1986, or the year before, though he competed sparingly. Lewis ended up ranked second behind Soviet [[Robert Emmiyan]], who had the longest legal jump of the year at {{T&Fcalc|8.61}}.<ref name=ljworldrank/>

At the [[1987 World Championships in Athletics]] in Rome, Lewis skipped the 200&nbsp;m to focus on his strongest event, the long jump, and made sure to take all his attempts. This was not to answer critics from the 1984 long jump controversy; this was because history's second 29&nbsp;ft long-jumper was in the field: Robert Emmiyan leapt {{T&Fcalc|8.86}} at altitude in May, just 4&nbsp;cm short of Bob Beamon's record.<ref>''Track and Field News'', July 1987, vol. 40 #7, p. 34</ref> But Emmiyan's best that day was a leap of {{T&Fcalc|8.53}}, second to Lewis' {{T&Fcalc|8.67}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics > Long Jump – men > Final result |url=http://www.iaaf.org/results/iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics/1987/2nd-iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics-4/men/long-jump/final/result |publisher=IAAF |access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref> Lewis cleared {{T&Fcalc|8.60}} four times. 
In the 4 × 100&nbsp;m relay, Lewis anchored the gold-medal team to a time of 37.90&nbsp;s, the third-fastest of all time.<ref>{{cite web |title=4x100 Metres Relay Men: 2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics |url=https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/2nd-iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics-4/results/men/4x100-metres-relay/final/result |publisher=IAAF |access-date=July 15, 2017 |archive-date=August 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829201009/https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/2nd-iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics-4/results/men/4x100-metres-relay/final/result |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The 100&nbsp;m final was the most talked about event and caused the most drama. Johnson had run under 10.00 s three times in the year before Rome,<ref>''Track and Field News'', January 1988, vol. 41, #1, p. 20</ref> while Lewis had not managed to get under the 10.00 s barrier at all. Lewis looked strong in the heats of the 100&nbsp;m, setting a Championship record in the semi-final while running into a wind with a 10.03 s effort.<ref>{{cite web |title=100 Metres Men: 2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics |url=https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/2nd-iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics-4/results/men/100-metres/semi-final/result |publisher=IAAF |access-date=July 15, 2017 |archive-date=March 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321093229/https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/2nd-iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics-4/results/men/100-metres/semi-final/result |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the final, however, Johnson won with a time that stunned observers: 9.83 s, a new world record. Lewis, second with 9.93 s, had tied the existing world record, but that was insufficient.<ref>''Track and Field News'', November 1987, vol. 40 #11, p. 9</ref>

While Johnson basked in the glory of his achievement, Lewis started to explain away his defeat. He first claimed that Johnson had false-started, then he alluded to a stomach virus that had weakened him, and finally, without naming names, said "There are a lot of people coming out of nowhere. I don't think they are doing it without drugs." He added, "I could run 9.8 or faster in the 100 if I could jump into drugs right away."<ref name="autogenerated3">''Track and Field News'', December 1987, vol. 40, #12, p. 28</ref> This was the start of Lewis's calling on the sport of track and field to eliminate the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. His detractors noted that the problem had been in the sport for many years, and it only became a cause for Lewis once he was actually defeated. In response to the accusations, Johnson replied "When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won't complain about that either".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9080-825664,00.html |title=Ambition naivety and tantalising prospect of inheriting the world |work=The Times |date=September 22, 2003 |access-date=April 28, 2010 |last=Slot |first=Owen |location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>