Lewis dismisses drugs claims

Nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis has dismissed suggestions he ever took performance-enhancing drugs during his glittering career.

Lewis, who secured 10 medals in an Olympic career which spanned four Games between 1984 and 1996, said he had never deliberately or knowingly taken drugs - despite last year’s revelation that he had failed a drugs test in 1988.

The American insisted he could not be compared to Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his gold medal and subsequently banned after testing positive for steroids following his victory in the 100 metres at the Seoul Games in the same year.

He told BBC Grandstand: “We’re talking about a deliberate taking of steroids, which people do to enhance performance – I was just taking a herbal remedy.

“I think that people said ‘Aha – Carl Lewis had been caught’.

“They wanted that smoking gun, but the parts that were in my system were so low that it didn’t even have a performance-enhancing quality at all.

“It wouldn’t have even been close – Ben was out taking steroids and obviously we know what the intention is of that.

“There’s no question out there that people want to say ‘Carl Lewis is a cheater, he did it and he’s just like Ben’, and all that and that’s fine.

“It just amazes me that people try to make that comparison.”