Johnson Stripped of 2 World Track Records : Federation Adopts Anti-Doping Ruling; Lewis Gets 100-Meter Title, McRae Is Tops at 60 Meters

Ben Johnson’s world records will be erased from track record books under an anti-doping ruling approved today by the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

On a vote that followed almost 3 1/2 hours of debate, the federation’s ruling Congress decided to remove any world records held by admitted drug users. The revision takes effect with the next annual records list, due out on Jan. 1, 1990.

Johnson set the 100 meters world record of 9.83 seconds on Aug. 30, 1987, at the world track and field championships in Rome. He set the indoor 60-meter record at the world indoor championships earlier that same year at Indianapolis.

As world best times stand now, the world record in the 100 will go to American Carl Lewis for his 9.92 seconds in the Seoul Olympics, the second fastest for the distance. Lewis crossed the finish line behind Johnson and was awarded the gold medal after the Canadian tested positive for stanozolol, a banned anabolic steroid.

The world indoor record for the 60 meters will go to another American, Lee McRae, for his 6.50-second clocking in 1987.

Johnson, who has admitted using performance-enhancing steroids, protested the federation’s decision in an interview before the vote.

‘What About Others?’

“Why should I always have to be the only one to pay? What about the others?” the Jamaican-born Johnson asked.

Almost three dozen took part in today’s debate, and critics said the measure would discriminate against Johnson, the world record holder in the 100 meters and indoor 60 meters and the only holder of a world mark to have confessed to drug use at the time the records were set.

“We all love track and field; it is like motherhood and apple pie,” said Amadeo Francis, a delegate from Puerto Rico who led the efforts to block the change.

Francis said Johnson would be singled out by a rule that was not in effect when the sprinter made his confession at a Canadian inquiry called several months after he tested positive for steroids at last summer’s Olympics.

Francis also said that the record-stripping move would muzzle testimony at future inquiries.

“We want to find the truth, but we don’t want to put a young man in the position where he must decide if he lies and goes to jail or tells the truth and loses his world record,” Francis said.

The majority of the 131 delegates present sided with federation President Primo Nebiolo, who said the rule change is fair and equitable.

‘We Are Against Doping’

“We are not trying to change the past, but we are saying that from Jan. 1, 1990, the world record list will no longer include admitted drug takers,” Nebiolo said. “We are not going against anybody, but we want to show everyone that we are against doping.”

The proposal originally gave a six-year limit to the time between a doping offense an athlete’s admission of it. Nebiolo said the federation was going to change the statute of limitation on admissions of drug use from six to three years.

In a later vote in the afternoon, however, it was decided to reinstate the six-year limit. Delegates then voted once more on the entire anti-doping package, including stripping Johnson.

In a separate item, the delegates rejected a move to increase the suspension for first-time drug use from two years to four years. That vote was 61 to 42.