document: Ben Johnson 's personal physician has said the disgraced Olympic sprinter took a banned steroid on one occasion four months before the Seoul Olympics last year , the Toronto Star newspaper reported today . Dr. Jamie Astaphan , in a telephone interview from the Caribbean island of St. Kitts , said Johnson was depressed last May by a hamstring injury that threatened to end his rivalry against Carl Lewis for the 100 meters Olympics gold medal . `` He bought stanozolol or somebody bought it for him in Toronto , '' Astaphan told the newspaper . But immediately after taking it Johnson suffered `` violent muscle spasms . '' `` He was immediately brought to me and I nursed him back to top condition , '' he said . Astaphan said Johnson was not on stanozolol when he beat Lewis in a world-record time of 9.79 seconds for the 100 meters gold , a medal taken away from him when he then tested positive for stanozolol use by Olympics officials . Asked how he could be certain , Astaphan replied : `` I must admit that even though I am his personal physician , there 's no way I can keep a constant check on him . `` But it would not make any sense for an athlete to go back on a drug which a few months previously could have ruined him for life . '' Johnson has said he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs . Astaphan has denied he ever prescribed such drugs to Johnson or other athletes on Canada 's Olympics team . The Johnson scandal prompted Canada to call an inquiry into drug use in amateur sport that resumes hearings in Toronto next Wednesday . Commission counsel Robert Armstrong said it was `` totally irresponsible that Dr. Astaphan made such statements outside of the commission and not under oath where they are available to be tested by cross-examination . ''
extractive_keyphrases: ben johnson personal physician disgraced olympic sprinter seoul olympics jamie astaphan stanozolol use johnson scandal banned steroid olympics gold medal