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Confirmation that Johnson had been using the drug for some time, at least several months, came from the very low levels of natural testosterone in his urine sample; the glands that produce the hormone shut down when the system is flooded with the synthetic chemical. Apparently Johnson made it to the Games because of a stroke of luck in the Canadian Olympic trials: two of the top three finishers are tested after each event, and Johnson drew the lucky straw that exempted him.
With the results of Johnson's test widely accepted, attention focused on how he had been doped. At the center of the controversy was Dr. Astaphan, a general practitioner on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. Astaphan has been associated with Johnson for more than five years, and the sprinter spent several weeks this summer on St. Kitts, purportedly being treated for a hamstring pull. Astaphan denied the reports that he gave Johnson stanozolol but did say he gave him therapeutic corticosteroids and subsequently notified the I.O.C. The doctor also became the subject of intense scrutiny. York University officials, according to a Toronto newspaper, were looking into claims that athletes training at the university had bought steroids from Astaphan. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario announced it would investigate Astaphan's medical practice.
But Ben Johnson was not talking. Before leaving Seoul, he denied knowingly taking steroids. On the flight back he wept, and when he finally arrived in Canada, he retreated to his mother's suburban Toronto home, where he lives. The well-built edifice of endorsements that had been erected for him collapsed overnight; he stands to lose an estimated $8.2 million. The only light in his personal tunnel, and a lurid one at that, came when Canadian and American football teams announced their interest in his services. The Canadian government promised an inquiry. Nothing less, it seemed, would explain the story of the man who, advertently or not, brought the 1988 Olympics to their highest and lowest moments.