Accusations, Anger Surface as Williams Testifies

Coach Charlie Francis said last fall that his testimony before the Canadian government’s commission of inquiry into drug use by athletes would be aimed at destroying track and field, one of Francis’ former athletes said Wednesday.

Sprinter Desai Williams angered the commission’s senior counsel with his surprise testimony about a meeting he had with Francis a month after the coach’s star sprinter, Ben Johnson, tested positive for an anabolic steroid at the 1988 Summer Olympics and lost his gold medal.

“I met with Charlie at a doughnut shop in late October,” Williams testified in his second day on the witness stand. “He said he would try and see if he could destroy track and field. He said he would implicate a lot of people he said were steroid users.”

Francis appeared before the inquiry for eight days in February and March, admitting he recommended banned drugs for the athletes he coached. He also claimed that steroid use was rampant internationally.

Williams, who finished seventh in the 100 meters at Seoul, admitted he used steroids briefly in 1987 but denied Francis’ claims he took the drugs as far back as 1981.

“Let me suggest this to you: that he met with you to tell you that he was going to come forward and tell the truth at this inquiry,” said the commission’s co-counsel, Robert P. Armstrong.

“Yes, he also said that,” Williams said.

“And, in fact, he has told you from time to time to come forward and tell the truth at this inquiry, is that not so?” Armstrong asked.

“Right,” Williams said.

Earlier, Williams was attacked by Francis’ lawyer, Alan Pratt, for disputing allegations that he was a long-time steroid user. Pratt suggested that Williams was motivated by his desire to be recognized as Canada’s fastest man. He ran 10.17 in the 100 meters in 1983, a Canadian record until it was broken by Johnson.

Pratt: “Are you aware that there may be some repercussions for those athletes who come here and admit use of anabolic steroids?”

Williams: “Yes, I am.”

Pratt: “And if Ben Johnson’s records are for whatever reason erased, then your record as the fastest 100-meter runner in Canadian history will stand.”

Williams: “To run 10.17 and be the best in Canada don’t mean diddleysquat on the international scene. Ten-seventeen would not win you anything. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.”

Williams left the inquiry in a rage with his fiancee amid a melee of reporters. He said the inquiry had made him out to be a liar “from Day One.”

Francis also was criticized in testimony Wednesday by another of his former athletes, quarter-miler Mike Sokolowski, who called the coach “two-faced.”

Sokolowski said he was injected with steroids by physiotherapist Waldemar Matuszewski, who treated most of Francis’ athletes. Sokolowski also said that Matuszewski gave steroid injections to Italian sprinter Pier Francisco Pavoni, who trained in 1987 with Francis. Sokolowski said Pavoni went to Canada to be “put on Ben’s program.”