Twenty years divide two astonishing Olympic 100 metres finals where the world record was not merely broken but shattered.
At the 1988 Seoul Games muscular Ben Johnson exploded from the blocks to cross the line in 9.79 seconds, four hundredths of a second faster than his own world mark. This year the elongated Usain Bolt clocked 9.69 seconds in Beijing, bettering his old record by three hundredths of a second.
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Both men, Jamaican-born although Johnson ran for Canada, slowed up dramatically in the final 10 metres with their rivals trailing in their wake.
Image: Ben Johnson (left) crosses the finish line at Seoul Olympic Games and Usain Bolt at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Photographs: Getty Images | Text: Reuters
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