LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ben Johnson: Summer Olympics
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The Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was expelled from the athletes' village today and his Olympic accreditation was revoked after an altercation at a security checkpoint. Precisely what occurred around noon at the village... was not clear.
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Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter who was stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for drug use during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, is timing to stage a comeback. He and his new agent, Morris Chrobotek, are challenging Johnson's lifetime ban from competition, a punishment both consider draconian. Invited by the Yale College Association of Canadian Students, Johnson spoke at a Berkeley College Master's Tea on Tues., Nov. 3, about his plans to return to the sport as both an athlete and a spokesperson against drug use. In an exclusive interview with the Herald on Wed., Nov. 4, Johnson--clad in a Yale sweatshirt--elaborated on this new dual role, his hopes for the future, and the personal preparation techniques that he believes will continue to be the key to his success.
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The following year, Ben Johnson reached to the final of the 100m at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, finished third behind Carl Lewis. With the Canadian 4 x 100 m relay team, he won a second bronze medal.
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Johnson's reinstatement to Olympic competition in 1990 was accompanied by a reinstatement from the Canadian government for appearances as a representative of the nation. Johnson hired a new coach, Loren Seagrave, and returned to work, visibly smaller and thinner than he had been in 1988. Although he turned 30 in December of 1991, Johnson predicted that he would make his way to the 1992 Olympics as a champion sprinter. Today his races are run in memory of his father, who died of a heart attack in 1989. Johnson still harbors a grudge for Carl Lewis and lists defeating the American as his number one priority. Still, the former star admits that he has a great deal to prove, both to himself and to the people of his adopted country.
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On September 24, Johnson beat Lewis in the 100m final at the Olympics, lowering his own world record to 9.79 seconds. Johnson would later remark that he would have been even faster had he not raised his hand in the air just before he finished the race. However, Johnson's urine samples were found to contain Stanozolol, and he was disqualified three days later. He later admitted having used steroids when he ran his 1987 world record, which caused the IAAF to rescind that record as well. But Johnson and hundreds of other athletes have long complained that they used doping in order to remain on an equal footing with the other top athletes on drugs they had to compete against.
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Johnson, who was not represented at the IAAF session on Friday, made similar denials while he was being stripped of his Olympic medal in Seoul. He has no credibility. As coincidence might have it in these litigious times, he is the safest big-name athlete the IAAF could suspend.
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