In defeat, Lewis begun voicing accusations that Ben Johnson was using performance-enhancing drugs, behaviour which was seen as egotistical and lacking humility, despite the accusations later being proven to be true the following year. It was also seen as reminiscent of the Ben Johnson- Carl Lewis rivalry in the 1980s, a rivalry that was exacerbated at the 1987 World Championships in Rome after Ben Johnson defeated Lewis in the 100 metre final. Some Canadians saw the American media's promotion of Michael Johnson as the "world's fastest man" as a cynical attempt to lessen Bailey's achievements. Bailey's accomplishments in the 1996 Summer Olympics, both firsts for Canadians, provided considerable national pride. Adding insult to injury, the Canadian team anchored by Bailey also defeated the Americans in the 4 x 100 metre relay. Notably in the 1996 edition of the men's 100 metre final, after golds in 19, as well as a bronze in 1992, the Americans had finished out of the medals despite being the hosts. Furthermore, fellow sprinter Ato Boldon-who had competed against both Bailey and Johnson in the 1996 Olympic 100 and 200 metres races, respectively-chimed in to say, with Johnson sitting next him: "I said before, the person who won the 100 meters was the fastest man alive, but I think the fastest man alive is sitting to my left". media-including Johnson's personal coach, Clyde Hart of Baylor University-used Costas' reasoning as basis for pronouncing Johnson the "world's fastest man".
Costa's claim was regarded at the time as ignorant by Sports Illustrated. In fact, each 200 metre gold medalist from 1968, when fully electronic timing was introduced, to 1996 had a "faster" average speed at the Olympics, save one, yet there had been no controversy over the title of "world's fastest man" previously, until Bob Costas' remarks during the 1996 Olympics. In other words, the second 100 metres is run with a "flying start", without the slow acceleration phase of the first 100 metres and without the greater than 0.10 s reaction time of the start. The 200 metre time almost always yields a "faster" average speed than a 100-metre race time, since the initial slow speed at the start is spread out over the longer distance. Bailey later dismissed Costas' comments as "a person who knew nothing about track talking about it with a lot of people listening" nonetheless, the sportscaster's remarks touched a nerve. On 1 August 1996, the night of Johnson's 200 m Olympic win, the host of NBC's Olympics coverage Bob Costas stated on-air that Johnson's gold-medal performance in the 200 m (19.32 seconds) was faster than Bailey's 100 m performance (9.84 seconds) five days earlier in that 19.32 divided by two is 9.66. The Olympics 100–200 metre double had been achieved only four times before 1996: Valeriy Borzov at Munich and Carl Lewis at Los Angeles for men as well as Renate Stecher at Munich and Florence Griffith Joyner at Seoul for women. The unofficial "world's fastest man" title typically goes to the Olympic 100 metre champion. sportscaster Bob Costas' national television references to the American 200m Olympic champion Michael Johnson as the "world's fastest man" despite Canada's Donovan Bailey winning the 100m race generated reaction in the two countries that ultimately led to the hybrid 150-metre showdown between the sprinters who normally run in different events.