LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ben Johnson: Athletes
built 240 days ago
Johnson served a two-year suspension imposed by the International Amateur Athletic Federation and was re-instated for competition in September of 1990. Having spent his days of suspension crusading against drug use in Canada's schools and amateur athletic clubs, the young runner was able to regain some of the respect he had lost. The rest of that respect he hopes to earn back on the track. Washington Post correspondent Christine Brennan noted that the citizens of Canada "were embarrassed by [Johnson]; now they love him. Johnson is Canada's prodigal son." Brennan quoted Toronto Sun columnist Jim O'Leary, who called the runner "a risk taker" and "a high-wire act in a nation of couch potatoes. [Canadians] admire his flair, applaud his success and now seem determined to cushion his fall with a net of public sympathy."
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Johnson's coach, Charlie Francis, a vocal critic of the IOC testing procedures, is the author of Speed Trap, which features Johnson heavily. In the book, he freely admits that his athletes were taking anabolic steroids, as he claims all top athletes are, but ... shows why Ben Johnson could not possibly have tested positive for that particular steroid. Johnson actually preferred Furazabol. He thought Stanozolol made his body "feel tight".
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While maintaining his innocence, BEN JOHNSON chose yesterday to quit track rather than appeal the lifetime ban imposed on him by the International Amateur Athletic Federation for failing a drug test a second time. His lawyers presented the outline of what they contended was a winnable case at a news conference in Toronto, then read a statement signed by the absent 31-year-old Johnson.
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"These athletes that train hard for twenty years of their life, or even longer than that — you reach a point where you do certain things, and people speculate," says Ben Johnson. "But it’s not for me to say what he did or not. I’m just happy for him."
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The data showed that Johnson had long maintained a ratio of 1-to-1 between the hormones testosterone and epitestosterone. Testosterone is a steroid-related substance that enables athletes to train strenuously and recover quickly. A 6-to-1 ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone is considered a positive test. Johnson's ratio was 10.3-to-1.
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