Tyson, Maradona, Johnson ‘outstanding’

Press, 13 December 1989, Page 80

Tyson, Maradona, Johnson ‘outstanding’

NZPA-Reuter London A boxer of snarling ferocity, a footballer touched with genius and a sprinter who tumbled overnight from hero to villain formed the outstanding sporting images of the turbulent 1980 s. Mike Tyson emerged from a New York ghetto to launch a savage and successful bid for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.

From the slums of Buenos Aires, Diego Maradona graduated to the captaincy of his country and inspired Argentina to the soccer World Cup. And Ben Johnson, born in a Jamaican shanty town, beat Carl Lewis and the world 100 m record in successive years before his fortunes crashed around him when he was expelled from the 1988 Olympics for using drugs.

Canadian Johnson’s fall from grace after he had defeated Lewis and reduced his own world record in Seoul was the sports sensation of the decade. Lewis’ clashes with Johnson were among the most dramatic sporting confrontations of the decade, highlighted by the contrast between the American’s lissom grace and Johnson’s awesome power.

Maradona took over from the elegant Frenchman Michel Platini as soccer’s leading light. He transformed a talented but erratic Argentine side into world champions and hired his expensive talents to Spain’s Barcelona and then Napoli. East Germany’s Marita Koch and American Florence Griffith Joyner were the outstanding women sprinters.