Questions emerge over Johnson’s 1988 dope test
MUMBAI: Tainted Jamaica-born Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson has finally seen the evidence that was used to disqualify him at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Johnson, who won the 100-metre event with a record timing of 9.79, was stripped of gold after the Olympic Doping Control Centre found the athlete’s urine sample contained the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol.
Neither Johnson nor any official from the Canadian Olympic team was shown the results of the drug test that turned the decorated sprint athlete into an infamous one.
However, Johnson recently saw the 30-year-old lab report, thanks to Canada’s largest daily, The Star, which obtained a copy of it containing clinical data, dates, time, sample codes, and the scientific test results that found traces of stanozolol in the athlete’s urine.
“If I had seen this in Seoul, I would have kept my medal. If you can’t see the evidence, how can others condemn somebody,” Johnson was quoted as saying by The Star.
According to the report, the test results of the athlete’s sample show inconsistencies that raise questions about the way the case was handled by the lab then. Unexplained deletions, handwritten revisions, “blank” urine tests, question marks and changed lab codes mark the report, indicating that the lab was not sure about the illegal substance found in the Canadian sprinter’s sample.
Johnson had denied taking the banned substance ahead of the Olympics, but later admitted he had been using steroids for a long time.
Despite his admission, the 56-year-old believes he would have been an Olympic gold medallist had anyone from his team been shown the report in 1988.
Montreal lawyer Dick Pound, who was an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president in 1988 and defended Johnson after the controversy, is satisfied with the way things unfolded.
“I would have been really embarrassed that through some lawyering, you got somebody off who was guilty,” Pound was quoted as saying, adding he has not seen Johnson’s lab report yet. “All the information eventually gets out,” he said.
For Johnson, the damage to his reputation is irreparable. He plans to share his lab report on his website and hopes to influence Olympic authorities to relook what happened in Seoul.