After his drug use was made public his name was dropped like a hot potato. I wouldn't even think the younger generation even knows who he is since his name has been thrown into obscurity yet, at his prime, the entire world knew him as the world's fastest man and the man to beat. No one remembers him as a great sprinter anymore, maybe an average sprinter who needed to cheat to be great (not that Lewis wasn't doping either, just didn't get caught). Without drugs, Ben Johnson's comeback was short-lived because he just didn't have the natural talent, ditto for Palan. I don't think Ben Johnson's time is the time to beat in the 100m, no one does anymore and no one certainly holds him as the 100m Bar.

It's the same thing as saying Wayne Gretzky was the world's greatest hockey player ever. Put him into the NHL ten years later when he was at his prime and he wouldn't do half of what he did in the past because the game simply evolved. The trap system evolved, the players were bigger and better, goalies equipment became ridiculously oversized etc... yet I am sure many people still claim he was the best player ever because they just don't want to look at how the game has changed over time (not to mention the once in a lifetime powerhouse team he was on at the time.) Personally, I would probably say Sakic, Forsberg or Jagr are better players but we won't ever be able to tell due to the nature of the sport.


Long story short, you can't compare people from the past in a discipline when the discipline changes so much over time. I guess we will just have to wait until a new A-P shows us how its done but I really don't think we will ever see weapons like we did a few years ago (mine included even though I got mine fairly without ganking) because of the smaller playerbase and hugeness of the mud.