How drugs killed our sporting dream.

(From The Northern Echo)

Byline: NICK MORRISON

Yesterday, Olympic favourite Dwain Chambers became the first Briton to test positive for a previously undetectable steroid. NICK MORRISON looks at what could be the biggest doping scandal in the history of sport

JUST two days after witnessing one of the most thrilling encounters in athletics, the world awoke to a very different kind of buzz. Barely had the excitement of watching the 100m final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics died down, than we were confronted with the shock of seeing the winner exposed as a drugs cheat.

With the acclaim for becoming the fastest man in history still ringing in his ears, Ben Johnson had been stripped of his medals and was flying home in disgrace. Two years of rumour and innuendo, previously put down to the jealousy of the defeated, had finally been proved to be based on fact. Johnson had tested positive for steroids: a remarkable transformation from an also-ran in 1984 to world record holder four years later was found to have been artificially induced.

But the furore over Johnson could pale beside the doping scandal now brewing, which threatens to engulf…