Canadian Athlete Stripped Of Olympic Gold Medal For Steroid Use
Canadian Ben Johnson left the Olympics today ``in a complete state of shock,'' accused of cheating with drugs in the world's fastest 100-meter dash and stripped of his gold medal. The prize went to American Carl Lewis. Many athletes accepted the accusation that Johnson used a muscle-building but dangerous and illegal anabolic steroid called stanozolol as confirmation of what they said they know has been going on in track and field. ``Everybody uses drugs,'' said sprinter Horace Dove-Edwin of Sierra Leone. ``Give me a break ... they have everything. Human blood hormone, all kinds of drugs. Steroids is nothing anymore. It is just an itty-bitty drug. You can get it anywhere.'' Red-eyed and visibly distraught, Johnson's sister, Clare Rodney in suburban Toronto, refused to believe the accusation. ``If you could cut him into a million pieces and test him over again, my brother is not on drugs,'' she said. Two tests of Johnson's urine sample proved positive and his denials of drug use were rejected today. Neither a spiked sarsparilla in his track bag, as his coach suggested, nor a switched sample at the lab could have accounted for the levels of steroids found in the tests, officials said. In a middle-of-the-night meeting with Olympic and Canadian officials, family members, coach and manager, Johnson, 26, forfeited his most prized possession, the medal he'd had in his hands for only three days. The world's fastest human also was automatically suspended from international competition for two years and banned from Canada's national team for life. ``He appeared to be in a complete state of shock and not comprehending the situation,'' said Canada's chief of mission, Carol Anne Letheren. ``Ben was not able to discuss or articulate anything at that moment ... He was just not able to speak and it was a very difficult moment for all of us.'' A few hours later, he fled to the airport and boarded a plane to New York's Kennedy International Airport. Once there, he made his way through a crush of reporters without comment as some spectators applauded. He took a limousine to LaGuardia Airport for a flight to his Toronto home. ``This is a blow for the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement,'' said International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch. In Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said the scandal was a ``personal tragedy for Ben and his family. It's also a moment of great sorrow for all Canadians.'' James Worrall, a Canadian member of the IOC, said Johnson ``has been killed'' as an athlete. He said the sprinter's once-favored status as a hero to many sports fans in Canada, his native Jamaica, and around the world now will be tarnished. Johnson's name will go down in Olympic history with other athletes who lost their gold medals, such as decathlete Jim Thorpe in 1912 because he played semi-pro baseball and swimmer Rick DeMont in 1972 because he took an asthma medicine. Lewis did not gloat over his rival's fall. ``I feel sorry for Ben and for the Canadian people,'' he said today. ``Ben is a great competitor and I hope he is able to straighten out his life and return to competition.'' He said he did not want ``to fuel this controversy'' by commenting further. After Saturday's race, though, Lewis had said he couldn't understand how Johnson could run as fast as he did after looking tired in qualifying heats. Lewis has previously alleged widespread drug use in track and field. Dr. Robert Dugal, a Canadian member of the IOC medical commission, called stanozolol ``one of the most dangerous anabolic steroids. It has the effect of leading to a number of disturbances of the liver, including cancer.''
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