IOC Doctor Calls Francis’ Sabotage Theory Nonsense

An International Olympic Committee doctor who was in charge of the doping control facility at the Seoul Games dismissed the sabotage theory presented in testimony by Ben Johnson’s coach Charlie Francis, this week at the Canadian federal inquiry into drug use in sports.

Dr. Manfred Donike of West Germany said Wednesday in an interview with the Toronto Star: “I can tell you this is absolute nonsense . . . When I interpreted the analytical result of Johnson’s urine and took into consideration the steroid profile, I saw this was not possible.”

Arnold Beckett, an IOC doctor from England, was quoted as saying: “It’s a load of rubbish, let’s face it. First of all, they were talking about someone tampering with his bag on the field. Then they started changing it into another story about a black man in the waiting room. Then they thought it was a white man. Then they mixed the two and got a yellow man. Did he have an antenna, too?”