Ben Johnson Squeezes Out the Last Drop of ‘Juice’

Stanozolol-Using Former Olympic Runner Making the Best of a Bad Situation

Some people just have no shame at all. In a recent Sports Illustrated article profiling a group of ‘Where Are They Now?” athletes, the weekly magazine caught up with former Canadian Olympic track and field star Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his gold medal from the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea for testing positive for stanozolol. These days, he seems to have come to the conclusion, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.’

Big Ben is putting his name behind an energy drink called Cheetah, which obviously has some connotations when you hear the company’s tag line. He also has been using his skills as a trainer, with one of his clients being a dictator’s son who tested positive for steroids following a few sessions with Johnson.

In an almost comical sell-out, Johnson was quoted in ads for Cheetah Power Surge as saying, “I Cheetah all the time.” He apparently has no scruples when it comes to making money, and proved as such by signing on to train the soccer-playing son of Mu’ammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya. Predictably, the young man earned a three-month ban from Italian soccer after flunking a steroid test.

If the aforementioned didn’t make you shake your head, then the SI piece made it certain by stating that they contacted Johnson’s agent, Morris Chrobotek, requesting an interview, only to be rebuffed with a fee request. If either Johnson or his agent feels that he deserves any kind of payment for someone – especially SI – even caring about him now, they should be the one’s forking over the money, not the other way around.

There is no person, athlete or not, who should be paid to give an interview. Regardless of their stature, they should be thankful that they are receiving press. A person like Johnson, who still claims that someone spiked his drink with stanozolol but admitted to using furazabol, should use any platform in attempting to clear his name. Being up front in a SI story could have gone a long way.

Photo credit: atrier.com