IN BRIEF : Johnson Sabotaged, Lawyer Hints

The theory that Ben Johnson was a victim of sabotage at the Seoul Olympics was raised again at a federal inquiry today by the lawyer representing Johnson’s personal physician.

David Sookram, who represents Dr. Jamie Astaphan, told the probe into drugs in sport that somebody gave Johnson a bottle of pills described as painkillers several days before the sprinter failed the test last fall.

“Did you see or were you told that anybody gave Mr. Johnson any tablets to help him with the pain on that day?” he asked Waldemar Matuszewski, Johnson’s physiotherapist, during cross-examination.

“No,” replied Matuszewski, who earlier said that he was aware that Johnson was suffering from pains in his leg in Seoul but that he treated him with massage.