When Canadian athlete Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs in the 100 metre final of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, it opened a can of steroid-pumped worms.
Daniel Gordon’s documentary brings together all eight competitors in the race, and in the process he discovers slippery takes on the truth, regretful lost opportunities and still-simmering rivalries.
The style may be raw and basic, but the film offers an interesting insight into how far people will go to win, and where the relationship between fair play and blind ambition starts to fall apart.
9.79* is out on DVD on 23 September 2013.
