High Jumper Admits to Using Steroids Briefly

Jimmy Howard, a two-time Olympian and the former U.S. record-holder in the high jump, has admitted using anabolic steroids briefly in 1979, but said he gained too much weight and has not used them since.

The 6-foot-5, 175-pound Howard, in an interview published Wednesday in the Toronto Sun, was responding to allegations made Tuesday by Canadian high jumper Milt Ottey at the the Canadian government’s commission of inquiry into drug use by athletes.

Howard, 29, who placed 10th at the Seoul Games said, “I’d be lying if I said I never tried them but I gained so much weight (from the drugs) I couldn’t jump.”

Ottey had testified that a jumper at the 1984 Harry Jerome Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, tried not to finish in third place after it was announced that the winners and third-place finishers would be tested for drugs. Howard finished third but left after the competition before he could be tested.