Johnson Vows Return in ’92 Games

Ben Johnson, stripped of his world record and the gold medal in the 100-meter dash at the Seoul Games after testing positive for steroids, defended himself at a press conference Tuesday in Toronto, denying that he had knowingly used drugs and vowing to make a comeback at the 1992 Olympics.

Johnson’s attorney, Ed Futerman, also said that an interview published in Stern, a West German magazine, was fabricated. In that story, Stern quoted Johnson as hinting that Carl Lewis, his 100-meter rival might have used drugs.

Stern quoted Johnson as saying: “I have taken nothing. Carl Lewis, perhaps, I never,” and vowing to “pay back the people who got me in this mess.”

At his press conference, Johnson, reading from a brief prepared statement, said: “When I was a kid, I never took drugs. People who knew me in Jamaica and people who know me here know I wouldn’t take drugs. I have never, ever knowingly taken illegal drugs, and I would never embarrass my family, my friends, my country and the kids who love me.

“My mother taught me that there is only one way to win--and I plan to come back--still a champion and a winner at the next Olympics.”

Johnson spoke for about 2 minutes to more than 200 reporters. He refused to answer questions.

There were about a dozen protesters against Johnson outside the hotel where he met the media. They carried signs such as “Olympic games for fun, not profit,” while up to 40 children shouted support.

Asked about Johnson’s comments in Stern, Futerman said: “I can only tell you that Ben has assured me that he never gave that interview last week.”

Meanwhile Johnson’s coach, Charlie Francis, made his first public statement, charging that someone had tampered with the drug testing process used on the Canadian sprinter. “Such a test result defies all logic and, in my opinion, can only be explained by a deliberate manipulation of the testing process,” he said in a statement issued by his lawyer in Toronto.