JAMAICAN-BORN Ben Johnson, who enjoyed a high-profile athletics career during the 1980s, has accepted an invitation to be a panellist at the inaugural CLM TV Sports Symposium to be held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, on May 27.

Johnson won two Olympic bronze medals and an Olympic gold for Canada, which was subsequently rescinded.

Like Usain Bolt, Johnson — who hails from Trelawny — set consecutive 100-metre world records at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics.

His rise to prominence started at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Australia where he won two silver medals. Two years later at the Los Angeles Olympics, he won 100m bronze behind Carl Lewis in a time of 10.22 secs.

A year later, he finally whipped his arch-rival at the 1986 Goodwill Games, where he ran 9.95. He also won Commonwealth gold in 1986, beating Linford Christie in the 100m, and later broke the seven-year-old world record in the 60 metres with a time of 6.50 seconds.

By the time of the 1987 World Championships, Johnson had established himself as the fastest man on the planet.

In Rome, he garnered instant world fame when he beat Lewis in a world record 9.83 seconds. That year he was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year for 1987 and was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada.

A year later, Johnson beat Lewis again in the 100m final at the Olympics, lowering his own world record to 9.79 seconds. He was later stripped of the medal and banned from Olympic competition for two years.

“The truth is I have been out of the limelight for a very long time. Many years have passed. some may have thought I was the only one who took performance-enhancing drugs…

“The time has come to speak the truth about my career and to set the record straight about what happened,” he said.

While Johnson has kept out of the glare of the spotlight, he has quietly been building his own empire. Today he is the president and CEO of The Ben Johnson Collection Ltd, a successful Canadian sportswear and casual line of athletic clothing and running shoes.

He will launch his autobiography, Seoul to Soul, later this year and is still involved with athletics, offering a vigourous personal training programme at York University in Toronto. He also enjoys volunteer work and derives satisfaction from working with children’s charities.

Other confirmed panellists at the Symposium are Teddy McCook, executive of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and regional IAAF representative; Olympians Raymond Stewart and Grace Jackson; Devon Harris, a member of Jamaica’s original bobsled team; Rich Kenah, director of marketing at Global Athletics/Adidas Grand Prix, and Bruce James, TV sports analysis and president of MVP Track Club.

The Symposium will discuss issues relating to ‘The Legacy of the Beijing Olympics and the World Championships’, brand Jamaica and sports tourism.