I SHOULD GET MY GOLD MEDAL BACK, SAYS BEN JOHNSON

Feels Vindicated By Reports Of U.S. Doping In Seoul

From a beachside resort in Malta, Ben Johnson says he wants his gold medal back.

Twelve years after the Canadian athlete was stripped of his gold medal after breaking the world record in the 100 metre race the International Olympic Committee has confirmed that five U.S. athletes also failed doping tests in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

"I've been saying this from the beginning in Seoul," Johnson said in a telephone interview. "I was not the only one. The U.S. said they would withdraw their athletes if any of them were exposed.

"I think I should get the medal back if these other athletes tested positive and won the gold medal," he added.

Johnson has also called for an investigation into the way the IOC operates. "I think they should investigate the competitions and why only Ben Johnson got shafted," he said.

No one has yet named the American druggie athletes. Johnson says he knows who they are. But he, too, will not name them for fear of lawsuits.

"I could get myself in trouble," he said with a laugh.

When asked if Florence Griffith Joyner was one of the athletes in question, Johnson wouldn't comment other than to say that she was a close friend.

Finally, after more than a decade of disgrace, Johnson feels vindicated. "Time is the best judge," Johnson said.

That's what his father told him before he died 10 years ago. "I don't have to do anything, just sit back and wait," Johnson said. "Everything that happens comes to light all by itself."

And yet, Johnson is still enraged with Canadian Olympic officials who, he believes, knew full well that if Johnson was stripped of his medal then some Americans should have lost theirs too.

"I was a Canadian from Jamaica," said Johnson, 38, who immigrated to Canada 28 years ago. "Canadian officials didn't protect our athletes."

After Johnson was stripped of the 100M gold, it went to American Carl Lewis. Britain's Linford Christie took silver and Calvin Smith of the U.S. took bronze.

The Olympics are more about money than sport, Johnson said. The Americans had more money invested in the rights to televise the Olympics than the Canadians did. American companies, such as Nike, wanted the world's fastest man to be American not Canadian, he added.

"Ben Johnson was hung out to dry while the other athletes made money. It was all about money and politics," which Johnson calls "poly tricks."

That's been Johnson's American conspiracy theory for more than a decade. Its essence has now been confirmed. And more scandal may be on its way, with news that far more U.S. Olympic athletes have also failed doping tests this year.

All the politics and betrayal have of course taken their toll. So much of the Olympics' integrity has been lost from the doping disgraces to the Salt Lake Olympic bribery scandal. This year, Johnson hasn't even watched the Olympics.

"It's amazing how everybody is pulling their muscles and out with the flu. It's a joke. So many athletes are pulling out and saying they're sick. They're not clean. Nobody wants to look like a jackass so the best thing for them to do is to pull out."

Johnson's name is still not cleared. He says he is now just trying to "get on" with his life.

Last December, Johnson worked as personal trainer to Saadi Gadhafi, a soccer player on the Libyan national team who also happens to be the charismatic son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.