Former sprinter Ben Johnson, notorious for having been stripped of his 100m world record at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 after testing positive for performance enhancers, has claimed to have proof that he was ‘sabotaged’.
Johnson admitted to knowingly taking banned substances prior to the Seoul Olympics, is set to release a book in which he will claim to have been victimised by the athletics authorities.
“It’s been 22 years that I tested positive in 1988, and it has come to pass that I was sabotaged, put it that way,” said the disgraced Olympian.
“There’s more coming out, there’s more that I could say, but I can’t elaborate too much … I can’t say too much right now, because I’ve been advised by my manager that I can’t say too much about the book,” the 48-year-old Canadian added.
Johnson said his up-coming autobiography Seoul to Soul would “show the world that I [Johnson] wasn’t the only one who was doing what they’re doing because of a level playing field.”
He continued, “My coach Charlie Francis, who just passed away last week, back in the early ’80s he spoke to the IAAF and said ‘listen, these East German people are doping and if my athletes are running clean we have to play a level field.
“They don’t listen to him, they turned him back, so he said that he didn’t have a choice. What he done for me, didn’t make me run faster. It just got me to train a little harder so I can recover.
“I just get a little bit bitter from how I was treated by the IOC (International Olympics Commission) and the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations).
“I made some mistakes too, in my time, but my coach and I decided that if other East Germans are doing what they’re doing that a level playing field hasn’t been set.”
