Johnson’s Therapist Testifies on Steroid Use

Ben Johnson’s physiotherapist admitted today that he administered what he believed were muscle-building steroids to Canadian athletes but said he never discussed the topic with Johnson, his teammates or the doctor who supplied the banned drugs.

Waldemar Matuszewski, a surprise witness at the federal inquiry into drug use in amateur sport, said he assumed the chemicals he administered were steroids but never confirmed that with Dr. Jamie Astaphan, Johnson’s physician.

“I never asked, but I knew,” Matuszewski told the inquiry. “Only steroids would build muscles like that.”

Speaking with a heavy Polish accent, the Warsaw-born Matuszewski, 42, gave a confusing story in which he denied allegations made in earlier testimony that he was part of widespread cheating by Johnson and his Canadian teammates.

Matuszewski also denied that he had injected steroids into Italy’s top sprinter, Pierfrancesco Pavoni, in Toronto in the fall of 1987.

Testimony Disputed

Pavoni has also described testimony by retired Canadian sprinter Mike Sokolowski as “absolutely false.”

Sokolowski admitted using steroids and said he saw Matuszewski give Pavoni an injection.

Inquiry spokesmen said last week that Peter Dajia, a shot putter once kicked off Canada’s Commonwealth Games team for failing a drug test, would be the first witness when the inquiry resumed after a weeklong break.

Also expected to testify was hurdler Mark McKoy, one of Johnson’s closest friends who left the Seoul Olympics last year after the star sprinter tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol and was suspended from international competition for two years.

The commission does not adhere to a rigid hearing schedule, but spokeswoman Barbara Fox said the current plans are for three weeks of testimony from athletes, doctors and drug companies before the next recess.

Dajia, 25, who attended the University of Texas, tested positive for steroids at the trials for the 1986 Commonwealth Games and was suspended from the Canadian team.