Sports and drugs made for each other?

'It breaks my heart and I wish somebody would do something about it," said golden boy Michael Phelps almost two weeks ago. He was referring to the use of drugs, performance-enhancing drugs, in sports.

The dark shadow of drugs on sports is not new. Perhaps the first big doping scandal was the disqualification of Canada's Ben Johnson at the Seoul 1988 Olympics after he had set a new world record, 9.79 seconds, in the 100 meters dash. The shockwaves Johnson's disqualification sent across the world were possibly more disturbing than those generated by seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's doping scandal more than two decades later considering the inroads the global media had made into people's lives by then.

Few, if at all, remember Johnson had beaten Lewis at the Rome World Championships in 1987 to the 100m crown, clocking a world record at 9.83 sec in the process. The International Association of Athletics Federation rescinded that record, too, in 1988 after Johnson confessed to have taken steroids before the race.