Johnson Sabotage Theory Is Back

The theory that Ben Johnson was a victim of sabotage at the Seoul Olympics surfaced again at an inquiry into drug use by Canadian athletes on Tuesday at Toronto.

David Sookram, attorney for Dr. Jamie Astaphan, who treated Johnson, suggested during cross-examination of Waldemar Matuszewski, Johnson’s physical therapist, that Johnson received pills described as pain killers several days before he tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the gold medal he won in the 100-meter dash.

On Monday, the inquiry’s senior counsel, Robert Armstrong, had recommended that the theory of someone tampering with Johnson’s water bottle in Seoul be discounted when he told commissioner Charles Dubin that all lawyers involved in the probe had agreed to abandon it.