Ben Johnson blames failed doping test on sponsor change

Ben Johnson was recently in Slovenia for the shooting of an upcoming Finnish movie, A Patriotic Man. The disgraced Canadian sprinter has a cameo appearance in the film.

Over dinner one evening he is reported to have told Finnish actor Janne Reinikainen that his sponsorship switch to Diadora from Adidas was what caused him to fail a doping test at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. His explanation is that, in switching to a smaller sponsor, he was less protected than while sponsored by Adidas.

“We were having dinner in Slovenia during the shoot, and Ben Johnson said he’d made one mistake in his career,” Reinikainen told Finnish television station Yle. “This was not being caught for doping, but changing sponsors before the Seoul Olympics.”

Huge sporting goods companies such as Nike and Adidas have vested interests in their athletes appearing to be clean and drug-free, whether or not they are, Johnson suggests. In leaving Adidas he lost the protection that their money and influence can offer to an athlete.

The film that the infamous sprinter is making an appearance in  is based on true events which surrounded an elaborate blood doping scandal in Finland with their national cross-country ski team.

Johnson tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol in 1988 after winning the Olympics and breaking the world record in the 100m.