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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993                   TAG: 9303080064
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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JOHNSON DECIDES TO RETIRE

This time, Ben Johnson is going down without a fight.

Maintaining his innocence, Johnson chose to quit track rather than appeal the lifetime ban imposed on him by the International Amateur Athletic Federation for failing a second drug test.

His lawyers presented the bare bones of what they thought was a winnable - though costly and lengthy - case at a news conference Sunday, then read a statement signed by the absent 31-year-old Johnson.

"I wish today to announce my retirement from competitive running," the statement said. "I had hoped not to end my career this way. Although I have been advised by my counsel and other advisers that I have a strong case for an appeal, I have decided not to pursue that appeal.

"I have had a long career in track. I experienced success and failure. I said after the Seoul Olympics that I would come back and compete clean. I know that I did."

Johnson was banned for life Friday by the IAAF after its doping commission ruled that a sample of Johnson's urine taken at a Jan. 17 meet at Montreal had unacceptably high levels of testosterone, an indication of steroid use.

Johnson was stripped of his Olympic gold medal and world record after winning the 100-meter dash at the 1988 Seoul Games after testing positive for steroids.

"Were he a younger man with the prospects of a longer career ahead of him and the ability to earn back the considerable sum that his appeal process would cost him, his decision would have been to appeal," Johnson's lawyer Terrence O'Sullivan said.

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