James lawton independent biography of mahatma

When it came to football, cricket, rugby, golf, the Olympics and his greatest love, boxing, Lawton landed the knockout punch every time his fingers hit the keyboard, producing glorious words at lightning speed.

During his spell as chief sports writer of this newspaper and then The Independent, Lawton had a front-row seat for some of sport’s greatest moments.

But what sad irony now surrounds arguably his finest hour.

In Seoul, South Korea, in September 1988, Canadian cheat Ben Johnson was stripped of the Olympic 100m gold medal he had won three days earlier.

When the news broke in the early hours of the morning in the media village, Lawton rose quickly to hit the deadline for that night’s edition back in England.

So powerful was his prose, so acute his observation of the sh James Lawton - Wikipedia DUQYF