Ben Johnson Offered Money for Injection, Fellow Sprinter Says

Andrew Mowatt, an Olympic teammate of Ben Johnson, said today that the sprinter once offered him money to inject him with steroids.

Mowatt, a member of Canada’s 1988 Olympic team, also said he believes that he was given steroids by Coach Charlie Francis and Dr. Jamie Astaphan without his knowledge.

The sprinter said at an inquiry into drug use among Canadian athletes that Johnson offered to pay him in 1986 if he would stick him with a syringe full of liquid kept at Francis’ Toronto apartment.

He said the vial of milky white fluid looked the same as a bottle of steroids entered as an exhibit at the federal inquiry, sparked by Johnson’s disqualification from the 1988 Seoul Olympics after steroids were found in his urine.

“He said ‘You give me a shot and I’ll give you a shot,’ ” Mowatt told the inquiry, adding that he refused because he had never given an injection before.

“Then he said: ‘Come on, be a friend. I need a shot.’ ”

Mowatt said he then consented after refusing Johnson’s offer of cash.

“I did it,” said Mowatt. “I gave him a shot. Then he said, ‘Thank you’ and left.”

During testimony last month, Francis had identified Mowatt, who still competes, as one of his athletes who used steroids.

Mowatt said Astaphan told him the shots he received were vitamins.

The doctor has denied giving banned drugs to Johnson. But his lawyer, David Sookram, suggested that the physician will give different testimony when he appears before the inquiry.

Retired sprinter Cheryl Thibedeau testified earlier that Astaphan did not fully brief athletes on the side effects of drugs he was administering. But Sookram said Astaphan disagreed with Thibedeau’s testimony.

“Dr. Astaphan will come and tell us . . . he discussed with you and with Francis all the side effects and the possible side effects,” Sookram said.

Thibedeau also said Astaphan rarely prepared syringes filled with steroids in her presence before giving her shots.

But Sookram said today that he spoke with Astaphan by telephone and that the physician disputed that testimony.

“He said he always prepared the needle when the patient came into the room,” the lawyer said at the inquiry.

Astaphan has been accused of administering a horse medicine to at least one athlete.