Drugs disgrace

Florence Griffith-Joyner died this week on the same day as Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson's appeal against a life ban from athletics was thrown out by an Ontario court. Both athletes have something in common. They each set world record times for the 100 metres in the 1988 Olympics and neither time has been equalled since (Johnson's record was erased). Some people in Ireland are quite familiar with the Johnson saga, not least because he and his lawyer, Maurice Chrobotek, holed up for about five days in the Shelbourne Hotel two weeks ago and caused quite a stir with their colourful stints in Dublin nightclub Lillies Bordello. And why were they in the Shelbourne? Well, nobody is quite sure. Mr Chrobotek made a name for himself by ringing around various newspapers, including this one, and relieving journalists of vast chunks of their time by sermonising about the global conspiracy against his client Ben. Ben was innocent you see. He didn't take drugs (although it appears that he admitted to it in the Dubin Report). He was set up and they had evidence.

Mr Chrobotek objected to a piece printed in this paper which used the prefix "disgraced sprinter" before Johnson's name. He argued that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were a "disgrace" in the way that they have handled drugs issues in recent years. He said that Ben was a scapegoat and that his name would be cleared. He said that journalists should be more careful in the things they write and cited the Michelle de Bruin case as an example of rough justice at the hands of the media. He said all the athletes know who are doing `it' and it is ignored by self-interested groups.

You might have dismissed Chrobotek because he talked big and wore a diamond stud in his left ear. But in his scatter-gun, self-interested way, he has raised some important issues.