South Korea may be gradually but unnoticeably gaining the reputation for making and unmaking champions in athletics especially the 100 metres dash.

You will recall how the famous Jamaican born Canadian Ben Johnson rose to fame in the 1988 Seoul Olympics only to be brought from grace to grass for taking banned drugs.

It was such a dramatic setback and the young man who had set an incredible 9.79 secs record had his nerves so broken that he could never return to big time athletics; sadly his name is now synonymous with drug cheats in sports.

Last week, the South Korean peninsula nearly destroyed another athletics hero.Current sprints supremo Usain Bolt had his fame almost destroyed in the ongoing IAAF championships in Daegu, when he was disqualified in the 100 metres final for false start.

Luckily, Bolt had the sympathy of sports analysts worldwide who strongly criticized the instant dismissal for false start rule as too harsh and retrogressive.  The consensus is there should be a caution for first offence and I think so too.

As the debate on the controversial rule raged on, Bolt came out forcefully to calm the storms by winning the 200 metres final in a record time of 19.40 secs to quickly restore his image as a living legend.

Bolt’s time, reputed to be the fourth fastest in history, also brought the best out of the silver and bronze medalists who both clocked under 20 secs. Fantastic! America’s Walter Dix (19.70 secs) and Christophe Lemaire (19.80) will definitely go into the books when the history of athletics competitions held in Korea is written.

What happened to Ben Johnson and Usain Bolt in the Korean peninsula reminds me of a joke a friend told me recently. He said a man lost his nagging wife on a trip to Israel and the undertakers made him two offers. He could have his wife buried in Israel for 2,000 dollars all expenses paid or fly the body home at 25,000 dollars.

To the utter surprise of the undertakers, the man preferred to fly the body home with this explanation, “I don’t want to take any chances, I am told someone was buried in this land sometime ago and he arose from the dead after three days”.

I can’t imagine what will go on in the minds of Ben Johnson and Usain Bolt when South Korea is mentioned in connection with athletics.

Your guess is as good as mine. I would like to take this opportunity to advice athletes in the upcoming All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique to be on the look out.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.